I have a new column up at Columbia Journalism Review on the failure of the independent group Americans Elect and the pundits who overhyped the group’s efforts. Here’s how it begins:

On Thursday, the board of Americans Elect folded its presidential nominating process after the set of declared candidates repeatedly failed to muster the support required to receive the group’s backing. Despite spending $35 million on “swank offices”, a fancy website, and expensive ballot access drives, Americans Elect ultimately attracted neither a credible candidate nor widespread support.

If you read the op-ed pages, you might have had different expectations…

Read the whole thing for more.