“President Romney”, John Quincy Adams Déjà vu?

The previous email noting the possibility of a third party election has stimulated discussion:

If George Romney were to run as a third party candidate in only several Rocky Mountain states and win sufficient votes  to the point that no Candidate has an Electoral College majority, the next President of the United States would in all likelihood be Mr. Romney.

John Quincy Adams, Déjà vu:  In 1824, the Presidency was won by vote of the House of Representatives, when John Quincy Adams received fewer electoral votes and fewer popular votes than Andrew Jackson, but won the election in the House of Representatives:  Thirteen State delegations voted for Adams, 7 for Jackson and 3 for Crawford.  See http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/scores.html

A Third Party Candidate need only Run in one or a Handful of States:  If Mr. Romney ran only in one state and as a result no candidate received a majority vote in the Electoral College, the Republican dominated House of Representatives (with one vote for each state delegation) would elect the President.

If several candidates ran as splinter party candidates and there was no Electoral College majority winner, then only the splinter party candidate with the highest Electoral College total would be eligible for the House election (to join the Republican and Democrat).

Regards,
Hal