Rick Santorum’s strong showing in southern primaries today reinforced the division within the GOP between Santorum-style social conservatives and old-guard Romney-style more moderate Republicans. While I consider both of these camps unsavory, the division increases the possibility of a Brokered GOP Convention.

A Brokered Convention occurs when no single candidate has the required number of delegates to achieve nomination on the first vote at the convention. The last brokered convention was the 1952 Democratic National Convention, from which Adlai Stevenson emerged as nominee. FDR was the last nominee to emerge from a brokered convention to win the presidency, in 1932.

The possibility of a brokered convention raises questions.

Just how divided are the social conservative Santorum supporters from the old-guard Romney supporters? Are they so divided that compromise via political horse-trading will not allow one of the two candidates to emerge as victor?

Is the GOP capable of unifying around a new, white-knight candidate drafted on the convention floor?

Is the GOP divided to the extent that compromise is not an option for a signficant number of Party members?

If the last of these is the case, then I suggest that this situation is precisely the sort of environment that generates an independent candidate, or even better, a third party.

Granted, a third party or independent candidate carrying the flag for social conservatives or moderates is hardly the party or candidate to provide much of an alternative from status quo politics; however, perhaps that sort of splintering might open the door for cracks in the two party system. I admit, it’s a long shot, proposed with an unusual degree of optimism on my part; however, strange times and unusual situations are fertile ground for change.

This is the sort of change for which we can all hold out hope, and perhaps endorse if given the opportunity.