I think there are good odds that Lessig would get inside the corruption machine and realize just what an intractable problem it really is. Maybe he'd win the special election this time, but what about when there's a "real" election and he needs someone's money? It can't really be said that he has "no need for the system" because how's he going to get anything done without the system? What are Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich's records of achievement in Congress?
I *really* don't get the Paul Wellstone comparison -- Wellstone was an honest-to-god liberal. He wasn't "sane" on the left-right spectrum, he was simply left.
Dennis Kucinich is very experienced congressperson. Yes, his presidential bids are not the most serious campaigns in the world, but his congressional record isn't a joke. And given that he's been re-elected five times, and unseated a two term Republican incumbent for his initial term (while being one of the least wealthy members of congress to boot) - let's just say people greatly underestimate Dennis Kucinich.
I think Ron Paul - in spite of his horrifically frightening domestic policies - took a lot of grief for things that were pretty irrelevant to his campaign. His grassroots fund raising would have made him a great success story - if he wasn't Ron Paul.
Good people like Lessig need to stop shying away from political office when the opportunities present themselves. Lessig is smart enough to know exactly what he'd get himself into - and his background would make him a very effective lawmaker. With idiots like Senator Ted "Series of Tubes" Stevens in the senate attempting to regulate technology, we need people like Lessig as some kind of political juxtaposition to folks like Stevens (and Feinstein).
Sane for me is a compliment, note: I don't think most of the democratic party is sane, and the republicans are outright insane...
Another pro to add to your list:
He could talk about anything under the sun and, as long as he had PowerPoint ready, we would all be glued to CSPAN.
Commenting by HaloScan
