Can Obama Be The Third Party Candidate That Wins?

I have been bouncing this idea around for the last couple days. With Sen. Clinton just as much of a possibility to win this nomination as Sen. Obama, if not more, should we give up if she wins? The more and more I hear people like Joe Scarborough talk about his conservative friends being moved by Sen. Obama or Andrew Sullivan posting messages from his readers and other conservatives saying they would endorse Sen. Obama in the general election, I think not.

With a chunk of Democrats and Independents along with moderate Republicans, I think Sen. Obama can win. If your choices are Sen. Clinton or Sen. McCain/Gov. Romney, I think Sen. Obama can actually win as a third party candidate. What more of a way can the American people say they want change then to elect Sen. Obama as a third party candidate.

I know this is probably a pipe dream. Being the person Sen. Obama is, he would never insult the party, or be seen as insulting the party like that. I just hope someone in the Obama campaign is at least crunching some numbers to see the viability of it, because something like an Obama/Hagel ticket would be a very formidable one.