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The Clinton Conservatives are awakening again.

From now until the day I die, I will never understand why so many people in this country cannot understand that we have a TWO-PARTY system, and the only way to effect change is to mold one of those parties to our wishes from within.

If Nethercutt runs as an independent, he will lose. (Well, okay, I'll grant that he would have an EXTREMELY small outside chance of winning if the following impossible confluence of events occurred: Murray got caught up in some massive scandal, the new GOP candidate ran a horrid race and Nethercutt found someone as brilliant as Lee Atwater and Serpenthead combined to run his campaign. But once he got to DC, he would be completely ineffective because he belonged to no party. Even Jim Jeffords has to effectively serve as a Democrat in order to get anything accomplished at all.)

If he runs as a Libertarian, he will lose.

If he runs on the Constitution Party, he will lose.

He can only win by running as a Republican or a Democrat. And Washington already has Murray the RAT, and we all know how wonderful she's been for her constituents.

But no. Even though Nethercutt was not personally involved one iota in the Estrada nomination ... even though it was Estrada himself that walked away ... some are going to cut off their nose to spite their face, in hopes of GUARANTEEING another six years of Murray the RAT.

I guess some would rather see Seattle turn into San Francisco North, as long as they can sit at home for the next six years smug in the self-satisfaction that by gum, they Did Something about that judge guy back in 2003 ... oh, what was his name again? Oh, look, President Dean's giving a speech on TV!

I agree, Timesink. There are those of us in our state who are trying to change the state Republican party from within, i.e. getting rid of RINOs, fighting to ensure that the smaller government, lower taxes platform is followed.

Then, we have so-called conservatives undercutting that effort, making it harder and more difficult to accomplish. But, the funny part is that if we are successful in fixing it, they will then jump on the bandwagon after all the hard work is done, and that really bothers me...

"From now until the day I die, I will never understand why so many people in this country cannot understand that we have a TWO-PARTY system"

The reasons are simple. First, those people are not into denying reality by way of hysterical polemics. The facts are that we have many parties in America and it's not useful to state that we only have two, when that obviously contravenes the truth. Another reason is that third parties often serve a useful purpose, either as outlets for voter angst, or as marks of distinction, such as when a candidate secures the endorsement of multiple parties (ex: the Conservative Party in New York State). And finally, these parties are strong and vibrant enough to ocassionally win elected office.

A two-party system is only one step from a one-party system, and it is more a byproduct of history than a blueprint for the future or some sort of divine imprint. To defend the status quo so vociferously is odd behavior indeed.