If I was gonna “vote my conscience” for a minor candidate it certainly would not be Goode. I wouldn’t even want him for the Republican nominee even over Glove since Obama would crush him.
Johnson is no good either. He may be well qualified, unlike Virg, but has many unfortunate positions.
If there was actually a somewhat qualified, clean conservative on any minor party line maybe I’d be tempted.
Most FR Goode backers I know of are people who wouldn’t vote Romney even if he and Obama were the only names on the ballot. I hope that goes for Goode voters in general, it would make no difference if they vote Goode in lieu of not voting at all. I suspect there might be some fans in his old congressional district though who would vote Romney without him on the ballot.
Gary Johnson is one of those guys that, while I’m not a fan of some of his positions or the battles he chooses to fight, had he stayed a Republican he would have been very useful in giving the Democrats a good fight for a Senate seat in NM, forcing them to be spread thin elsewhere. Not unlike Lingle in HI, I suppose.
And while there are definitely better NM Republicans to send to the Senate, I’d take Johnson over a Democrat.