WASHINGTON To those who bemoan the lack of better choices in presidential elections, third-party fantasies come easily at this stage in a campaign. End hyper-partisanship and Washington dysfunction: Vote Bloomberg-Petraeus in 2012!

Those dreams are even more vivid than usual this time around, and not just because polls show striking levels of discontent within both parties about politics as usual.

The most immediate practical impediment to independent and third-party bids has always been getting on the ballot in all 50 states, a complex process that requires substantial time, money and organization. Ross Perot managed it in 1992 and got almost 19 percent of the popular vote despite dropping out at one point; Ralph Nader was on 44 state ballots in 2000, including, fatefully, Florida, where the election was decided in George W. Bush's favor by 537 votes.

In 2012, courtesy of a group called Americans Elect, some lucky independent candidate will have the chance to enter the race with all but guaranteed nationwide ballot access. And as that fact - or threat - has begun to dawn on the Democratic and Republican establishments, it is setting off new chatter about the prospect for a high-profile unity ticket, or at least about someone emerging to play the role of national gadfly and potential spoiler for one party or the other.

"I think what is clear is they'll be on the ballot in most of these states, and it's going to be something we have to deal with," Jim Messina, President Barack Obama's campaign manager, said of Americans Elect at a briefing last week about the White House's re-election strategy.

So far, Americans Elect has won ballot approval in 11 states and says it is within days of completing the process in California, which offers the biggest electoral prize. It expects to complete gathering the necessary signatures by Dec. 31 for ballot petitions in 30 states; it anticipates no problem meeting the requirements in the remaining states next year.

"We're removing the barrier to entry, which is 50-state ballot access," said Elliot L. Ackerman, chief operating officer of Americans Elect.

No agenda

Ackerman and other backers of the group said they were not out to help or hurt one party or the other. They said this was neither an effort to torpedo Obama by siphoning off moderates and independents, nor a ploy to help him by splitting the anti-Obama vote. The group has no agenda other than offering voters a wider choice of candidates, its backers say, and is not a third party but a nominating process.

By its own account, the group is driven by civic-minded citizens who feel that moderates and independents have been disenfranchised by the tendency of the two parties to play to their bases, especially in primary voting, which independents are barred from in many states. Its practical goal, beyond ballot access, is to promote the selection of a presidential ticket via an online convention in June; the ticket would have to include a Democrat and a Republican or a member of one party and an independent.

But to some members of both parties and advocates for transparency in campaign finance, Americans Elect is a shadowy cabal financed by hedge fund money and undisclosed donors who could have a secret agenda to tilt the election.

Among Republicans, the feeling that Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney would both be flawed candidates against Obama has led to another round of speculation about a late-entering candidate or a third-party bid. But even as they begin to pay more attention to Americans Elect, leaders in both parties are playing down the idea of a third-party candidacy.