Virgil Goode and his Oval Office hopes

What’s the point of Virgil Goode’s decision to run for president? As the former Fifth District congressman prepares to campaign under the Constitution Party’s banner, it’s worth remembering that third-party and independent runs can make a difference.

That difference isn’t something people will immediately recognize on Election Day. In November, voters will either re-elect President Barack Obama, or they will elect his Republican challenger.

As we write this, that challenger may be either Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum. With most of the delegates left to be decided, though, it’s still possible for another candidate to come forward and clinch the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.

That won’t be Goode, of course. The former Democrat turned independent turned Republican is far too conservative for the independents who typically decide presidential elections. He may even be too conservative for some Republicans.

For that matter, most people are smart enough to know that voting for a candidate outside the two-party choice results in unintended consequences. Bill Clinton certainly owes a debt to Ross Perot for his two terms in the White House because Perot took votes away from Republican candidates in 1992 and 1996. The campaigns of John Anderson in 1980 and Strom Thurmond in 1948 took votes away from the Democrats.

No one — especially Republicans working to make Obama a one-term president — is going to fall for Goode or any other third-party candidate this year.

When it comes down to a vote for a Republican they don’t like, a longshot they love or Obama, most conservative and Republican voters will likely vote for the GOP candidate, even if they don’t like Romney, Santorum or the party’s eventual nominee.

That said, Goode’s candidacy can — and might — serve one important function. If he rallies conservative voters and shows some electoral strength, a third-party challenge from the right can push the Republican nominee further to the right. Goode or another third-party/conservative candidate on November’s ballot might be just the thing to keep the eventual GOP nominee from straying too far toward the marble middle of American politics.

That’s a tall order for the former congressman from Rocky Mount. But if Goode puts any kind of effort into his presidential campaign and is able to find some supporters with money, he could mount the kind of challenge that the Republican Party won’t be able to ignore.

That won’t put Goode in the Oval Office, but it could put his hand on the wheel when it comes to deciding who will get there — and what they will do once they arrive.