[SoCalPol]

Who ever the third party candidate, Obama wins.
When you split the Republican vote in half you have already
lost the election. It doesn’t take a PhD in Math to figure that out..

McCain not my first choice in the primary and am far from a RINO especially having worked in Reagan’s first campaign for Gov.

My original candidate for ‘08 was the only adult conservative running.

[Ron Jeremy]

When you split the Republican vote in half you have already lost the election.

Well sure, but take a look at 1992. That wasn't the fault of ANYBODY except the RINO president. It certainly wasn't the fault of conservatives agitating against him. It was the fault of a recession coupled with Bush having broken his tax pledge.

[jmc813]

My original candidate for ‘08 was the only adult conservative running.

I'm a big Hunter fan, but in all fairness, Thompson and Tancredo were both "adult conservatives".

[politicalwit]

When you split the Republican vote in half you have already lost the election.

If you have one conservative independent candidate running and it takes away one half of your party's vote then it's obvious that the party has nominated a very weak candidate.

[alicewonders]

If the Republican party can’t come up with a better candidate than John McCain - they don’t deserve to win.

The party is pathetic and getting worse every day. I am no longer a member of it & have no loyalty left for the Republican brand name. It sucks. They had their chance and they blew it. It’s time to start a new course - think ahead for the future - not just to win an election.

We’re screwed no matter who wins, in different ways - but still screwed.

[alicewonders]

When you split the Republican vote in half you have already lost the election.

My original candidate for ‘08 was the only adult conservative running.

One could argue that Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo and the other marginal candidates that stayed in the race even though they could never rise above 1 or 2 percent - only served to split the conservative vote up & actually, were a huge reason that we now have John McCain as our candidate.

Is that being an adult? To stay in the race & draw votes against another candidate that might possibly have a chance to win? I liked Hunter, but frankly - I think he stayed in way too long. We were too divided, when the smaller candidates should have been the "adults" and dropped out to help to unify our cause.

Now, we're stuck with a candidate that I cannot, in good conscience vote for. He is not a conservative - he doesn't even try to pretend that he is. Sometimes I think he is a "spy" for the other side - he is that bad.

[CottonBall]

When you split the Republican vote in half you have already lost the election

I believe that your premise that all Republicans would vote for McCain if there were no other 3rd party option is faulty. Many conservative Rs would not vote for McCain, no matter what. Myself included.