Rolled Out On: 1/15/2008 9:16 AM

Agreed... but I think the system balances out. A democrat trying to screw up the republican primary will probably have his vote zeroed out by a republican screwing with the democrat's primary. Regardless, I can't believe there are enough people doing this to change the outcome of any election.

On a side note, I read your first sentence and thought: "Yeah, I can kinda see why an uber-lefty would like Huckabee..."

Rolled Out On: 1/15/2008 10:26 AM

I'm a registered Democrat. Mostly because every single critter in my district is a Democrat and I think if I ever need a favor, I might have better pull than if I remain a lifelong independent.

It's too late to switch, and I don't particularly like any of the critters with a (D) beside their name, so should I just stay home and pass on my vote this year? What's the non-pathetic thing to do?

Rolled Out On: 1/15/2008 11:16 AM

SM, unfortunately there is no "None of the Above" choice which I think is necessary to show the politicians they don't truly represent their constituents. I'm an independent too, so I can't vote for Fred here (who I'd like to see nominated).

If you truly like none of the candidates, then I'd say since you can't say "I don't like any of them", not voting is the second best. It sucks though that this is what we're coming down to, isn't it?

Rolled Out On: 1/15/2008 12:00 PM

As an independent, your ballot is just gonna have those FL tax cut initiatives then, right? Like SM, I was registered D since I turned 18, because in West Virginia, that's what you did. The unions still run things. There are a lot of decent democrats in WV, and at the state level, they are generally pro-gun. Since I moved to FL, I've had to re-evaluate the situation. Basically WV is a conservative blue state, and FL is a liberal red state. So I just changed my registration to Republican. Well, actually, I sent it in right before the cut-off, so I'm not sure if I'll get to vote for Fred or not. If I have to vote for a Democrat, I'm still going to vote, but I just won't punch out a chad for the presidential primary. Still gotta vote for tax breaks.

Rolled Out On: 1/15/2008 12:21 PM

There are a lot of decent democrats in WV,

Well there ain't any in Maryland. There's a few pro-freedom RKBA type Republicans and the Libertarian Party here is a joke.

I guess Rob's point might be deliberately switching parties to vote for the weakest guy for the other party. He might have a point there, but there's nothing illegal about this practice.

Everyone knows the rules, and as long as you're not voting early and often, go right ahead.

Just don't whine later that your guy got the popular vote, yet didn't win the race.

Rolled Out On: 1/15/2008 12:31 PM

but there's nothing illegal about this practice

No, there's not, but there is a logical disconnect when you say you believe in democracy but will go out of your way to try to disrupt it from happening when it's apparent your side will lose.

Granted, I doubt it happens enough to truly affect the outcome, which just makes it even more pathetic. It also says to me that this guy doesn't think his candidates' views are supported by enough people that he believes they can be elected and therefor has to try to get a bigger idiot (and Huck definitely fits that bill) on the other side to run against.

Rolled Out On: 1/15/2008 3:21 PM

Robb, you have to keep in mind a lot of these "uber-lefties" don't believe in democracy. They are nanny-state socialists, and shouldn't be given the benefit of the doubt.

The people that do this deliberately know nothing about the real issues, only what the media spoon-feeds them. They don't have any real political goals either... they just think they are clever. In reality, I'd wager that 99% of people who say "I'm just gonna vote for the opposing party's weakest candidate" don't even make it to the polls.

Personally I could never do this myself because if I actually placed a vote for any of this year's democratic candidates, I'd throw up all over the ballot.

Rolled Out On: 1/15/2008 6:57 PM

I'd like to know:

1) Why do you not like Huckabee?

2) Who do you like and why?

3) What would you do in the general if the nominees were Huckabee and Obama, or Huckabee and Clinton?

Rolled Out On: 1/15/2008 7:21 PM

"[Some of my opponents] do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that's what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards."
— Mike Huckabee, campaigning in Michigan last night.

Bush's religion irked me enough and I don't recall it ever being this blatant. Conservatism isn't social for me, and it certainly is for Huck. Government wise, he's not much different than the democrats.

I'm for Fred. I like his ideas on Federalism. He's a supporter of the 2A. He'd appoint judges that are constitutionalists. His record is generally fiscally conservative. He's not perfect (he's a politician) but he's better than all the others combined.

Between Huck and Clinton/Obama? Good luck with that. I'll either vote Paul or not at all. Who cares if the statist is a religious nut or a shrill shrew? It's the statism I'm against.

Rolled Out On: 1/16/2008 7:59 AM

don't blame democracy for this shite, blame the single-member simple majority district system. that is, in each representative's district, only one representative can win; this drives the number of parties down, and that creates a lesser-of-two-evils voting trap.

some of us real lefties have been in a pissing contest about this over on tgirsh's place, in the comments on this article and this followup. as well, google Duverger's Law, and read the (unusually good, for the source) wikipedia articles on voting systems and their problems.

my own position: if more'n one representative got elected from each district, we could fix things so that third (and more) parties were actually viable in this country. (we know we could; not only can it be proven mathemathically, but it works that way elsewhere in the world.) then there'd be no more talk of "throwing away your vote" when you're voting for people you actually like, and shenanigans like you're describing would become pointless.