Ash Roughani is trying to form a political party for California moderates.
It has a website, a purple color scheme and, as of this morning, a very "Halftime in America"- like ad.
"Join me," the midtown Sacramento resident says in the video. "Let's turn a simple idea -- the California Moderate Party -- into a growing movement."
The video (posted after the jump) was accompanied by a mission statement. It complains about the polarization of politics, in general, and about term limits, Proposition 13 and supermajority vote thresholds, specifically.
"The Democrat and Republican brands have lost their luster," it says.
Roughani, who left the government reform group California Forward last summer, said his party would provide "safe harbor" to lawmakers who defect from one of the two major parties.
To register the more than 100,000 voters needed to qualify as a party, Roughani, 30, hopes to appeal to California's growing ranks of independent voters, mostly online.
"The real game changer this year is going to be with the new online voter registration system," he said. "We're hoping that this new system will really just allow us to create that explosive growth we need to create a movement over night."
So far, it's been slower going. A party committee raised $276 last year. As of this afternoon, Roughani's "halftime" video registered 30 views.
"Yeah, it's halftime, California," he says in the video, "and our second half is about to begin."
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