So far, Ackerman said about 20 people have privately expressed interest in running for the Americans Elect nomination, although he would not disclose who the prospective nominees are.

“2012 is going to be a three-horse race,” Ackerman said. “2012 is once again the change election, but the change is not a new person, the change is a new way to pick our leaders.”

However, if an outside-the-mainstream candidate were to win the White House, Ladd argued, rather than fixing the gridlock in Washington, they could actually make it worse.

“Parties in Congress will still really disagree and the institution will still be set up with lots of veto points to block action,” Ladd said. “It’s hard for Obama to get Democrats to agree on one program and vote for his proposals. I think it would be harder for a third-party candidate to take convince members of Congress to take unpopular votes for them.”