No, you seem to forget that the POTUS race is NOT a popular-vote contest.
Rather, it's 51 mini-races (50 states + D.C.)
If I was a betting person, let's say I wagered with you $1,000 that if Romney only won ONE of the following "mini-races" -- you would take the $1,000...
The Left Coast: Hawaii, CA, OR, WA
New England (not sure if I'd include NH yet): Maine, MA, Vermont, CT, RI
NY-NJ
DC area (not VA), but MD, DE & D.C.
Illinois
Those are 15 races there. You now have to be consistent with the above claim...Are you willing to say for those 15 races, "there is a 100% certainty that Romney won't win them; therefore, Romney cannot possibly qualify as 'ABO' in those 15 states"???
(Remember, the POTUS race has no "silver medals" for state-by-state races; 2nd place only counts in horseracing)
So if somebody offered you a wager...would you be willing to say Romney could win just one of those states?
Bottom-line: If 'can't win' automatically eliminates a given candidate as an "ABO" candidate, then while Romney = "ABO" in Virginia, he doesn't = "ABO" in Oregon.
Virgil Goode is on the ballot in Oregon. I say, his chances of taking Oregon are the same as Romney: NIL
Therefore to Oregon voters -- Virgil Goode indeed is an "ABO" candidate.
Since I was pinged ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_Decision
Here's a link to another instance where someone tried to decide who was and who wasn't a person. They were wrong there, too.
There are conservatives in the field. By definition they are 'anyone but Obama' and are on ballots. They can receive the votes of patriots just as easily as the two statists in the major parties.
How much are you willing to wager on either Goode or Hoefling? I say, neither one wins the presidency in November. Want to take me on? If either Goode or Hoefling wins (see, you even get TWO chances!), then you win the bet. So, how much are you willing to wager? I’m sure we can find some mutually accepted third party to hold our bets until the election returns are in.
You have a fundamental misunderstanding of ABO. Implicit in ABO is that Obama *must* be defeated. Goode, Hoefling or Mickey Mouse write-ins don’t fit that bill. And sorry, Colonel Flagg, your protestations to the contrary, that simple observation does not rob Goode or Hoefling of their personhood a la the Dredd Scott case (LMFAO!). Although Mickey Mouse, on the other hand....
ABO should really be ABOWCW (Anybody But Obama Who Can Win).