Knowles's election was surprisingly close, but he also benefitted from the split conservative vote due to a strong third-party gubernatorial bid by the sitting lieutenant governor.

He has said he will use as much as $100 million of his own money to put together a third-party Presidential bid if they do.

"Or other options," he added elliptically, referring to a third-party bid.

Johnson personally disliked La Follette but grudgingly admired his quixotic third-party bid and generally agreed with his 1924 platform.

In the same vein, Mr. Buchanan said he was not "actively pursuing" a third-party bid.

Mr. Duke in the past talked about a possible third-party Presidential bid or a race for Congress.

His publisher, Regnery Publishing, is using the speculation about a third-party bid by Mr. Buchanan to draw attention to the book.

The three dismiss the idea of an independent candidacy, arguing, among other things, that General Powell is too much of a traditionalist to relish a third-party bid.

All the while, some of his closest advisers floated that he, indeed, was mulling a third-party bid.

Conditions certainly seem ripe for such a third-party bid today.