If people can support Crist on DU, they should be able to support any third-party candidate

[LoZoccolo]

is a shit statement

[RollWithIt]

1. I don't think people support Crist, they support a winning strategy though....

Bottom line is that our candidate has no hope of winning and he also doesn't improve our chances in ANY down ballot races either. It's going to be a complete sweep for the Republicans in Florida. The only hope Democrats in Florida had was for Crist to win his race and caucus with the Democrats. Whether or not he would have is another question, but it really doesn't matter.

EDIT: It really doesn't matter because even if Crist had caucused with the Republicans, he would have still been 100 times better than Rubio. Say hello to Senator Rubio btw.

[MadHound]

2. Supporting a Republican over a Democrat is an even shittier thing to do. n/t

[stevenleser]

3. Skinner already explained why this is not the case n/t

[Zephie]

4. I missed that, can I have a link so I can read it?

I've been wondering about how that policy comes into play here.

[stevenleser]

7. He commented here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9410939

[Bluenorthwest]

5. Crist said Sarah Palin was more qualified than Obama

now that is a shit statement. Supportin' a Palinite. I can see hypocrisy from my house!

[Dogmudgeon]

6. Crist is the Anti-Rubio

Sadly, Mr. Meek is trailing badly in the polls in this election, and it's become important to block the radical right in critical races.

The Democratic voter has to weigh the situation and then decide.

There is some good news: Crist would almost surely caucus with the Democrats, and Meek isn't going to just fade away. In fact, he might just pull off a two-way upset victory, though the statistics say otherwise.

--d!

[2Design]

15. the media are paid repukes and trying to force their wishes polls are crap n/t

[LAGC]

8. Even if the third-party candidate is polling above the Dem?

Lets be realistic here. If there was a Green running in a three (or more) way race against a Repuke and Dem and the Green was polling higher than the Dem, who would you vote for?

The main reason we don't vote for third-parties is because they are in a distant third-place and as such, serve the role of spoiler. But if they were the strongest candidate against the Repuke, I think it would be a different story.

[depakid]

18. Nope- for some it wouldn't be a different story

Trust me on that.

[2Design]

9. Crist is not a dem get the discussion and his supporters off DU please

Crist supporters need to go somewhere else to talk about him and doing their fear mongering -

[2Design]

12. my post on that other thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9410939&mesg_id=9418514

[Ozymanithrax]

10. Crist is the the exception here.

One I disagreed with, but there was a sufficiently high number of people scared shitless of Rubiio who wanted to support Crist. So they let it happened.

Who could have known, running a candidate to the left of Rubio would split independents and Democrats and leave the Republicans free to elect Rubio.

That was a rhetorical question.

[Riftaxe]

11. Since people are allowed to advocate against

Democrats on this site, I fail to see why 3rd parties should be excluded.

[LoZoccolo]

13. I don't doubt that you fail to see that. n/t

[leftstreet]

14. Why isn't this a poll?

I wanted to vote, dammit

:cry:

[flvegan]

16. Score one for Oasis!

[depakid]

17. Yes, it's OK to support Republicans- but a progressive?

Anathema I tell you!

:rofl:

[BzaDem]

19. I think it has something to do with the percentage of the vote they are capable of getting.

So while a progressive third-party candidate who wins 5% of the vote simply increases the R-D margin by 5%, a candidate who is in SECOND place that isn't a tea party nut obviously has a chance of winning.

The only way someone could endorse voting for a 5%-earning progressive third-party candidate in our system, is to assume that the purpose of elections is something other than electing candidates to govern. If you believe that elections are all about "sending messages" or "soothing your conscious" or some other such bullshit, then it might make sense to you to enable Republicans by voting for non-viable third parties.

But if you realize the purpose of elections is actually to elect candidates to govern, and nothing else, the distinction would be obvious and apparent to you.