3rd Party Did NOT Give Hick the Election

[OneGuy67]

Again, you are playing with the stats. There were 3rd party candidates and there were people who voted for those candidates. If the goal was to remove Hick from his seat, the failure for that rests completely with those who voted 3rd party. Because they chose their voting decision, we get to enjoy another four years of Hick.

If there were no 3rd party candidates, I don't think everyone would have not voted, if the goal had been (and it was) to remove Hick from office.

[bryjcom]

I guess you need to show me in numbers, what you're taking about

[HoneyBadger]

Again, you are playing with the stats. There were 3rd party candidates and there were people who voted for those candidates. If the goal was to remove Hick from his seat, the failure for that rests completely with those who voted 3rd party. Because they chose their voting decision, we get to enjoy another four years of Hick.

If there were no 3rd party candidates, I don't think everyone would have not voted, if the goal had been (and it was) to remove Hick from office.

Your entire argument is fallacious because you (falsely) assume that those people would have voted for Bob. Unlike this false dichotomy, there were many possible outcomes: Those voters could have voted for another 3rd party candidate, "just because screw those guys". Or they could have voted for Hick. Or they could have abstained entirely from voting.

Bottom line: Nobody can accurately predict what would have happened in any other scenario.

Bottom line #2: Crying about it now isn't going to change anything. If you're not happy with the election results, work harder next time.

[OneGuy67]

HB, I'm not crying at all. I'm not getting defensive nor am I attacking anyone in particular.

You wish to believe you and people like yourself who voted third party are not responsible for the outcome of the governor election, and there are a number of us who do believe that those who voted 3rd party are the reason Hick will be with us for another four years.

The ultimate goal was to remove him and replace him. Your candidate had zero chances of that happening, but you chose to vote that way anyway. A number of people here talk as though they are single issue voters (2A), but apparently that isn't the case. Again, the goal was to rid Hick of a job, but that didn't happen.

[bryjcom]

HB, I'm not crying at all. I'm not getting defensive nor am I attacking anyone in particular.

You wish to believe you and people like yourself who voted third party are not responsible for the outcome of the governor election, and there are a number of us who do believe that those who voted 3rd party are the reason Hick will be with us for another four years.

The ultimate goal was to remove him and replace him. Your candidate had zero chances of that happening, but you chose to vote that way anyway. A number of people here talk as though they are single issue voters (2A), but apparently that isn't the case. Again, the goal was to rid Hick of a job, but that didn't happen.

You keep talking about this "goal". I shared the same goal as you. But not everybody shares the same goal. The democrats goal was to keep Hick in office. Yours and my goal was to vote him out. That didn't happen even though I voted for Bob. 3rd party voters' goal was obviously different than our goal. The problem is 3rd party voters didn't give it to Hick.

I know you're trying to find a scapegoat for why Hick still has his job but I don't see a reason in either of your explanations.

So again, please show me the NUMBERS on how 3rd party voters caused Bob to loose the election.

[OneGuy67]

Sigh, sorry Bryan. You posted them, if you can't see it, then I can't help you more. We will have to disagree on your belief that the 3rd party voters didn't give it to Hick.

[Rumline]

Crying about it now isn't going to change anything. If you're not happy with the election results, work harder next time.

This. Get involved, volunteer with a campaign or grassroots org, donate, spread the word, make sure everybody you know is going to vote, (and educate them to ensure they vote the right way) etc.

stop catering to the hard-right leaning conservative base - they're going to vote for the R anyway. It's the middle-ground you need to appeal to if you want their support.

This is a double-edged sword. Any change in platform you make is going to attract some voters and drive others away. There are countless examples of "RINOs" not receiving votes from conservatives because they're too liberal. The point of doing good research is for campaigns to find out where the largest net gain of support lies.

For example, maybe the voters of a particular district really prioritize acceptance of gay marriage, pot legalization, fiscal conservatism, and no gun control in that order. In such a district, if the Republicans ran someone like Klingenschmitt, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot. So maybe you compromise a little on some of the religious wing of the Republicans' platform in order to get an R in the seat versus a raging Progressive. Religious conservatives may call this candidate a RINO, but if the balance of the district really is in favor of gays, then it would be suicide to run an anti-gay crusade.

The thing about our two-party system is that we really do have "coalitions" like they do in England or other parlimentary systems, it's just that instead of forming the coalition after the election, here our political parties have to form the coalitions BEFORE the election, find candidates that embody that coalition, and hope they made the right calculation come November.

[Dave]

Sigh, sorry Bryan. You posted them, if you can't see it, then I can't help you more. We will have to disagree on your belief that the 3rd party voters didn't give it to Hick.

He posted numbers that prove his stance. You're massaging numbers in your own mind beyond what an Enron accountant would do to try and justify your error. Face the fact that Hick ran a better campaign that BB, he was out there touting numbers on the state's economy that can be backed up and BB basically came out of the bathroom with nothing but his dick in his hands.

[HoneyBadger]

HB, I'm not crying at all. I'm not getting defensive nor am I attacking anyone in particular.

You wish to believe you and people like yourself who voted third party are not responsible for the outcome of the governor election, and there are a number of us who do believe that those who voted 3rd party are the reason Hick will be with us for another four years.

The ultimate goal was to remove him and replace him. Your candidate had zero chances of that happening, but you chose to vote that way anyway. A number of people here talk as though they are single issue voters (2A), but apparently that isn't the case. Again, the goal was to rid Hick of a job, but that didn't happen.

You, you, you, you, you...

YOU don't know what you're talking about. I voted for BB.

You can ignore the numbers and point fingers all you want, but still, your argument is fallacious.

[OneGuy67]

I'm not the one saying over and over the 3rd party candidate didn't take votes from BB.

I don't care how you voted HB though I am glad to hear that those here who advocate 3rd party did try to get rid of Hick in the system we currently have.

I'm currently at the ranges outside Ft Bliss and on my phone so I don't have any emoticons to add or the ability to copy and emphasize text.

With that, I'm done with the conversation.