(I won't be, either...voting for Virgil Goode)
I don’t see Romney as much of an improvement over Obama. I don’t think either should be POTUS
(Agreed)
At least, by voting third party, it “may” (if enough will help) deny either man more than 40% of the vote. They cannot claim a mandate in that case.
I wish that would be true; I don't see more than 6% who would vote third party...and even that is a major departure from previous elections if that were to occur...
My "purple state" comment was meant to say, "OK, even when we look thru the lens of the pragmatic utilitarian political relativist voter, the ONLY possible 'stampede' by way of fear approach that they could even begin to justify are the swing states. The fact that they don't apply even their own pragmatic worldview to the state-by-state electoral process tells me that when they say 'ABO' -- it's only a euphemism for 'pro-Romney.' If they were TRUE 'ABO' voters, they wouldn't be so defensive about people putting forth third-party alternatives to Obama in the blue and red states...And that the 'purple' states should be the only ones effecting their uneasyness."
I don't know of any ABOers who claim that anything you do in states like CA, NY, or MA is going to make any difference at all this November. I certainly don't.
That said, it's true that I have never qualified every single one of my statements with "unless you live in a deep blue or a deep red state..." because I assumed it was 1) understood and 2) therefore potentially insulting to other peoples' intelligence. What I'm hearing from you is that both my assumptions were incorrect.
And, speaking of insulting, I think it's presumptuous of you to assume that ABOers like me believe you guys in the deep blue and deep red states are going to hand Obama the WH simply because we don't put an "unless you live in a deep blue or a deep red state" qualifier each time we say anything. You might not agree with my vote in November, but I am not a freaking moron.
BTW, I live in a toss-up state which could be razor tight this November.