ABC News reports.  WaPo has the group’s statement, which at least some opponents of AE thinks leaves wiggle room for something.  After all, as Ken Vogel noted on Twitter, the group has a nice package of ballot access in a number of states. Richard Winger too notes the potential for the group’s ballot access use in the future.

Meanwhile Lessig responds to Lumea on neutrality and AE, something which seems pretty moot.

I expect Buddy Roemer will continue to try for the Reform Party nomination and he will continue to be a non-factor.  I’d keep an eye instead on Gary Johnson.

Why did AE fail?  First it is hard to build a movement around ballot access rather than a candidate.  Second, despite what partisans say on both sides, Obama and Romney are close enough to the center that there is not really room for a radically different candidate in the middle.

And then there was the bad press from the group’s democracy deficit, which was a self-inflicted wound.

Ballot access for third party candidates in this country is way too hard, and AE had a good idea to get around it.  But its execution did not work, especially how it tried to present itself as a publicly-driven force but a core group kept tight control of its rules and expected substantive outcomes.