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Originally Posted by Severian

I don't know man. Florida is an extremely tricky state demographically speaking. Not only does the population ebb and flow throughout the year as people move to and from the place seasonally, making it infamously hard to poll accurately and reliably, but the state is full of sub-demographics that are diametrically opposed to each other. Young and old, progressive and traditional, LGBT and pro-LGBT and dogshit sniffing rednecks, extremely impoverished boomers and upper class millennials, blah! It's an easy state to lose, and I'm not sure Gore's inability to gain the electoral votes in FLA says much about him at all. The state is just as "Deep South" minded as it is progressive.

I think it's pure lunacy to vote for a third party this time around. And it will continue to be lunacy until one of those parties (the god awful Libs or the Greens) does the necessary work in the off-years to get themselves truly established. Every cycle it's the same... Heu! Nobody pays attention to us! Get us on the ballot! Stop being lazy, you want change!!

But then four years go by and both parties and quiet and complacent and rarely make a big push during the mid terms.

I'll consider voting Green (maybe) when the Green Party does the legwork to build itself up into something formidable that can actually compete with the Dems and Repos without fucking things up.

this is what i hate about those 3rd party candidates-- they don't bother to build up a base and participate in local and state elections. like, they could maybe take vermont or something. but no-- it's just some bullshit presidential dance with 0 power base. run a city first. run a county. get some laws passed in state legislatures. install a governor. build a reputation based on governance not rhetoric. otherwise it's just bullshit.

i would find it more interesting if we had multiple parties with specific issues instead of two big tents; but as it is right now if you want environmental reforms you have to go through the environmental faction of the democrats because the greens can't do shit. and if you're a libertarian you have to work through the repukes like aqua-buddha. it's how the system works. perfect? no. but it's what we have and the rest is empty gestures at least for now.