Third-party presidential candidates have never come close to gaining election in the last hundred years - Theodore Roosevelt lost in 1912, George Wallace in 1968, John Anderson in 1980, H. Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996 and Ralph Nader in every race since 1996 - but they have often served as spoilers for the Democratic or Republican in the race.

In that capacity they sometimes have helped defeat the candidate more closely aligned with their interests: the conservative Mr. Perot ruined Republican George H.W. Bush's re-election bid in 1992, opening the door for Democrat Bill Clinton; Mr. Nader, a left-leaning consumer advocate, helped Republican George W. Bush beat Democrat Al Gore in 2000.

Now, a privately financed group called Americans Elect is organizing an online effort to run a third-party candidate for the White House. Given the general dissatisfaction with President Barack Obama and any of his would-be GOP challengers, along with the influence social media and Internet communication have had on such movements as Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street, the major parties should sit up and take notice.

On Monday, after submitting the signatures of more than 1 million registered voters, Americans Elect won a spot on the 2012 ballot in California - the 12th state in its drive to get slots on all 50 by Election Day. Also on board are Arkansas, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio and Utah.

The movement plans to nominate a ticket through online balloting in June. Only former Republican Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, a relative political lightweight, has expressed an interest in an Americans Elect candidacy.

Americans Elect would vastly prefer someone like New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

The ready-made ability to get on most and perhaps all state ballots could invite a late entry into the race. Gov. Christie appears unlikely. If viewed as a spoiler that helps re-elect President Obama, he could ruin his future in the Republican Party nationally. On the other hand Mayor Bloomberg, who could finance much of his own campaign, could prove a formidable candidate.

While this newspaper welcomes any effort to engage voters, we also urge Americans Elect to identify the source of its $30 million campaign. Its chairman is Peter Ackerman, a Wall Street financier who worked with junk-bond trader Michael Milken at Drexel Burnham Lambert in the 1980s, giving us pause.

Yet the movement suggests that in the digital age conventional assumptions, such as third-party candidates have no shot, may no longer hold true.