During last night's GOP debate on CNBC, both Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo declined to guarantee that they would support the GOP nominee, no matter who that nominee may turn out to be.
This raises the question of whether either man would run as an independent if they weren't satisfied with the Republican nominee. One of the reasons this question comes up is that last week James Dobson proposed a "values test" by which to judge a prospective Republican nominee. If the nominee fails the values test, Dobson threatens to support a third-party candidate.
Here's the thing: Would Dobson support Paul or Tancredo? It's unlikely. Which suggests that, if certain improbable but possible events occur - such as this man winning the GOP nomination - we may have not only a third party candidate, but perhaps even a fourth-party candidate running in a general election.
