Either the Democrat or the Republican will win. It's up to each voter to decide which one to vote for.

I'm not voting in Florida. So, my opinion of Crist doesn't matter one bit. It matters only for voters in Florida.

is to get involved in picking the candidates who will be on the ballot. It happens even before the primary election. It happens in party committee meetings, caucuses, district level conventions and so on. If you're unhappy with the quality of candidates then work to get candidates you support on the ballot.

If you don't think it can be done, you're incorrect. It is done all the time, just not to your satisfaction. Every candidate on the ballot on November 4 went through a process to get on that ballot. Get involved in that process and you can have a larger influence than by doing anything else.

In 2012, we had a Minnesota state senator from my district who was flaky on support for labor issues. At the district convention, he was opposed by two other candidates. The incumbent took it for granted that the convention would endorse him again. That did not happen. Neither of the other two got the endorsement, either. Nobody was endorsed. The incumbent withdrew from the election. The two other candidates were on the primary ballot. The one who won the primary and eventually the general election was a Hmong immigrant. He had come in third in voting at the convention. A strong GOTV campaign for the primary helped him win the primary election and he won the general election, too. We now have a Hmong immigrant sitting in the state Senate. His name is Foung Hawj (pronounced Fong Her). He's doing a great job and has proven to be a very progressive state Senator.

That is how it is done. You can do it in your area too, if you have the will to do it. If you don't like the candidates, work for one you do like, starting at the first of the year for the next election. This year, the ballot is set. You can help choose the candidates for the next election. But you'll have to start early in 2016. You can't wait until the primary election. It happens before that.

that the best candidate we can field is a former Republican who is either still pretty far on the right or never had any political scruples to begin with.

But yes, of course I'll vote for Crist.

Bryant

I think I have attacked Crist so much here because I have watched him over his career and hate the current whitewashing going on by some. It is clear that some here haven't paid close attention to him. Still better than Scott and the position is important enough for me to vote for the lesser of two evils.

Last edited Wed Oct 22, 2014, 11:36 AM - Edit history (1)

I will sadly be voting Crist. Crist is that bad of a candidate. Fortunately for him he is going up against Scott. Crist is not a democrat and is exactly what is wrong with politics. Scott is just an all around shitty human being. Crist is also not a slick politician. Far from it. He has pulled the wool over very few peoples eyes. He is simply a little better than Scott and when we are talking about something so important of course the lesser of the two evils deserves the vote.

It is a sad statement on democracy that we have to vote party lines but if you don't we will get more of what the republicans are going to do to us.

Been preaching this principle for years and getting beat up over it for years.

candidate is during the Democratic primary, the time to vote against a Republican is during the general election.

But really, the fight for better Democratic candidates needs to happen well before the primaries as well. Having three progressive candidates in a primary is a good way to make sure that no progressive wins. Stuff like endorsements and consolidating supporters is very important if people are interested in changing the party.

Though like I said, not always. With California’s jungle primary system, there are races between two Dems this November. Likewise, there are a few important races here where it’s a fight amongst de facto Democrats .

That lets us steer the party, and get people better than Christ on the ballot. We weren't able to do that this time.

The general is when you vote for the "least bad" candidate. And then you vote for the best in the next primary.

Do that enough times, and eventually that "best" candidate ends up on the general ballot.

When it comes to a high office such as governor, however, I assume most readers don’t need a newspaper to tell them what their guts tell them. I assume you either are already a supporter — and I’ll try to be impartial here — of good old Gov. Pat Quinn, the homespun Democrat whom everybody knows and loves, working like a plough horse trying to correct the problems left behind by the jail-bound Rod Blagojevich, and, before him, the jail-bound George Ryan.

Or you back Bruce Rauner, the Republican multimillionaire who popped steaming from the C. Montgomery Burns mold, bursting onto the scene like a party guest flinging his cape at a cringing footman, demanding the governorship be given him right now, as his birthright, a kind of droit de seigneur.

you know that if Rauner is elected, the first thing he will do is to start fucking people over.

his own experience with the candidates. Counter endorsement in the same paper.
I like it

many of them aren't just imperfect- they're awful. It's just that they're less awful than the alternative.

But I would resent the Party that delivered him up as the only choice over a current Republican. It would really chap my hide to vote for a man who said Palin was more qualified to be President than Obama. That's way more than imperfect. Wanted to put Palin where Biden is. But yeah, I'd vote for him. Then I'd move.

There is no such thing as a "perfect candidate."

and he did have the first-lady down to help his campaign.

We have worse Dem candidates around the country.

are themselves perfect and pure. Somehow, I doubt that.