I voted for a Republican and it felt good!

[Horse with no Name]

Granted he was unopposed...but even in all of the other unopposed races where there were Libs and Reps...I passed them over, but this one?

Is a really good guy--a Judge that serves ALL of the community very well and doesn't differentiate in his rulings between the rich and the poor.

Oh yeah, I voted for President O too!

[liberal_at_heart]

1. there is a republican on our ballot

that our local progressive newspapers are saying is more progressive on gay marriage, women's right to chose, legalization of marijuana, taxes, and the environment than the democrat running against him. I was shocked. I have never heard of such a thing, but I guess it is possible.

[Robb]

2. I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I left the unopposed repubs on my mail-in ballot blank. No vote for them from me.

[Horse with no Name]

3. He's the only one

I truly like this man. It isn't about party--although I do believe if he ran as a Democrat he would have been challenged...so, it is like the best of both worlds in THIS situation.

[Robb]

6. Yeah, I knew a county commissioner like that once upon a time.

Same deal, unopposed, ran GOP so we wouldn't have a challenger. Good guy, pretty much a big ol' liberal with a cowboy hat and ranching background.

I told him good luck, but since you don't really need the vote I ain't gonna break my streak. He laughed.

[Caretha]

4. Me too!

I also voted for every Green/Libertarian candidate running against a Repub when there wasn't a Democratic candidate to choose. There was one local race with only a Repub candidate, I skipped it. Now I'm wondering if I could have asked to do a "write in". I read another post where a Duer wrote in Jesus in those above circumstances, I wish I'd thought of that.

[sadbear]

5. I don't know.

If someone consciously decides to affiliate themselves with the republican party, I always have reservations.

[liberal_at_heart]

8. but we need moderate republicans

We're never going to get more tax revenue without them. And without more tax revenue that means only one thing. More and more and more cuts to spending on social programs. Believe it or not we do need them.

[sadbear]

9. Moderate republicans?

I agree with your sentiment, but sorry, where I live moderate republican is an oxymoron.

[liberal_at_heart]

12. I agree most of them have been chased away

There is one on my ballot this year and I did vote for him. The right wing has chased almost all of them away. I think we need to chase the right wingers away and help bring back the moderates. We can't get rid of all the republicans anymore than they can get rid of all of us. We need republicans we can work with.

[sadbear]

13. What we need is a loyal opposition.

And the republican party has disowned that notion. I think moderate conservatives should disown the republican party. When they divorce themselves from that destructive organization, I might vote for one.

[DissidentVoice]

16. Something like this?

I know that Christie Whitman and John Danforth are involved with this lot (Republican Leadership Council).

http://themoderatevoice.com/11333/the-centrist-republican-leadership-council/

[sadbear]

17. Yeah, I guess. But even still, I find no evidence of interest in working with Democrats.

The date on that is March 2007. Are they even still around or we're they killed for good in 2010?

[DissidentVoice]

19. Christie Whitman

I think Christie Whitman is the sole standard-bearer now.

[MynameisBlarney]

7. I voted for republican a while back

he was our county elections supervisor. And he was among the first to stand up to Rick Scott's voter purges.
But there is not one republican on the ballot this year that I will be voting for.

[LTR]

10. Voted for a Republican against Democratic sheriff

My county is hardcore blue. We have this sheriff who wins every election, by vitue of being a black Democrat (a good combination here). Bit this guy is a total DINO, and only runs as a Dem because he wouldn't get elected otherwise. Kisses ass with the local right-wing radio guys.

A few years ago, he had a challenger who was apolitical, and felt politics doesn't belong in the sheriff's department. He ran as a Republican because, hey, they had an opening. I voted for the apolitical Republican over the phony Democrat.

[PD Turk]

11. I voted R once

City council race, a close personal friend. He really wasn't a republican but it was the only chance he had at getting elected. He had previously run as an independent and couldn't get the votes without the party affiliation. Other than that I've never voted for a bloody R.

[DissidentVoice]

14. I have voted for Republicans before

Overwhelmingly it's been at the local level, generally where I actually knew the person involved.

I live in Michigan but am from Indiana originally. Unless you're Evan Bayh or someone like him who is willing to be "Republican-lite" you don't stand a fart's chance in a hurricane of being elected without an R after your name there. There are people who automatically, every election, go into the booth and tick straight Republican "because my daddy and grand-daddy did." Sometimes they don't even know the person running's stances! The "R" is good enough.

My wife's cousin was her maid of honour at our wedding. She's very, very nice and really takes Christianity seriously (i.e., not just to demonise gay people, scream blue murder about abortion, etc.). She ran for County Clerk on the Republican ticket. I voted for her, because I knew her as a person. She was elected and was very conscientious about her job, as I expected she would be.

A lot of people in very red states will run on a Republican ticket because they know there's no other way for them to even be considered, so they hold their nose and do that.

It's sad that it's that way, but it is what it is.

Note: In this election, any Republican running unopposed is going to remain a blank space on my ballot. I don't know any of the Republicans running personally, and I'm not going to give that lurching-further-to-the-right party any help.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

15. I Vote For Republican Judges All The Time

But that's only because the ones I vote for, I know well, I work with extensively, and I know them to be good people and good jurists. My rule still stands: unless I know them and know that they are good, competent people, it's straight Democratic ticket all the way. And anyone who thinks that's an unfair standard (usually Republicans), well you can thank George Bush for that. I was a very "middle-of-the-road" kind of guy until Bush and his "my way or the highway" bullshit came into prominence, and every Republican in the country fell in lock-step behind him. From that day on, my rule has been that the ONLY way I vote for a Republican is if I happen to know that person and know that he/she is good and competent (which basically means only Judges, as they are who I work with primarily).

As far as unopposed Republicans, if I don't like them, I often just leave that space on the ballot blank and abstain.

[lyingsackofmitt]

18. I never ever vote for repubs

I just leave them blank if they are unopposed. Funny this year our assembly woman (R) ran unopposed, but she's sent at least a dozen flyers and I've seen her ads on TV. Some fiscal conservative she is...