“viable third-party candidate “
well that is the catch isnt it. “viable”. third parties are not really viable at all. Just ask Perot, Nader, Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose party, more recently Daggett in NJ. Hoffman probably was viable and in that particular case i would have supported his efforts but for the most part sorry all a third party is going to do is hand the Demacommies more wins. heck they pushed for Daggett in NJ in an effort to have Corslime win. you want to talk sheeple how about splitting said sheeple so that democommies keep winning. that is probably the only strategy the Dems will have in 2010 and beyond
You may want to go back somewhat further and analyze how the GOP came to be. Perhaps, in the short term, voting 3rd party will help elect Democrats, but that could well change rather shortly should the GOP get a clue.
However, the best remedy, IMO, is to withhold all funding from the GOP (at least that which we have control of...). Get active in local GOP politics, go to meetings, let our voices be heard. Let the party know that we are not on board. Not until they begin promoting viable conservative issues and candidates.
Take Illinois for instance. Andrew McKenna is the former GOP state chairman. He's now running for governor on the GOP ticket. He's RINO all the way and I'll not vote for the man. I've already passed that on to my state reps (who I'm acquainted with). I'm also actively getting that message out to all I know.
The GOP here is 'business-as-usual', and that's not good enough. Consequently, I'm not on board.