Aureantes' Lair

[Adapted (and corrected) slightly from my latest posting at hyperlucidity] --


In Illinois we have an interesting situation for the governor's race, because the dissatisfaction rate is high for both major-party candidates (incumbent governor Rod Blagojevich (D) and state treasurer Judy Baar Topinka (R)...though dissatisfaction is still slightly higher with Topinka than with Blagojevich, even with accusations of cronyism and arranging jobs in return for alleged personal "gifts".

There is a third-party candidate, though -- Rich Whitney (Green Party), whose campaign mailing was extremely persuasive...he also has a campaign website, though I haven't looked it up yet. The question, though, as with many races including the 2000 presidential one, is whether a principled vote for him will wind up being a self-defeating one, taking away from the Democratic side only to bolster the Republican margin.

I'd like to see a Green Party candidate take the governorship in Illinois, but I don't want to see Judy Baar Topinka getting in on account of a split upset (even without taking into account her horrendous 'rich conservative businesswoman' makeup, which looks as if she gets it done at the local embalmer's, I do not like nor trust the woman in the least).  

And I know most people will say the pragmatic thing to do is to vote for the candidate of your choice that you actually think has the best chance of winning (well, except in presidential primaries, where the party votes aren't actually running head-to-head and you *can* safely "throw your vote away" on a conscience-candidate like Dennis Kucinich, as I did in 2004, just to make a point).  

And then some liberal/radical activists are fond of saying that there can never be a good outcome to elections unless people stop choosing the lesser of two evils and go totally third-party....but then, who is it they're preaching to with this message but people who would more likely vote to the left side of the aisle than to the right?

And of course, there's the infamous Nader split of 2000, inconsequential as it may have really been in the final count....

So....my plan is to do some grassroots/guerrilla promotion of Rich Whitney in my area and then watch the polls closely before Election Day to see how the cards lie. In the meantime, though...okay, I do assume you all vote wherever you live, otherwise it'd be pretty silly to be in an online group that deals so much with politics and govermental ethics and constitutionality and all that. So what is a situation you've been in, or followed closely/vicariously, where there was this kind of a decision to be made?--and what did you do (or what would you have done) in order to try and make sure that your vote was not cast in vain--nor your principles abandoned?