United States Presidential election, 2008

From Everything Shii Knows, the only reliable source

This website is an archive. It ran from 2006-2010. Virtually everything on here is outdated or inaccurate.


Here is a list of candidates Americans might vote for in 2008. My focus is on balancing the desire of the disillusioned for a protest vote with how your vote might actually be useful. For the people who ran in the major and third-party primaries visit United States Presidential primaries, 2008.

Contents

Major candidates

Solid reasons to vote Obama

If you are in a swing state (less than 5% margin on the eve of the election) your protest vote could put McCain in the White House. If this is the case I'd advise against it.

However, if you live in a solid Obama or McCain state, your vote could be more useful as a protest!

Solid reasons not to vote Obama

Obama would not take steps to free the U.S. from its two-party hegemony. All the third-party candidates would do that.

Obama would not significantly cut the military budget. These candidates would.
Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney, Gloria La Riva, Brian Moore
Obama would not end the federal ban on marijuana which works against state legislation. These candidates would.
Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin, Cynthia McKinney, Gloria La Riva, Brian Moore
Obama would not adopt single-payer health care. These candidates would.
Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Gloria La Riva, Brian Moore
Obama would not take strong steps to curb pollution. These candidates would.
Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Gloria La Riva, Brian Moore

HOW TO VOTE

Check your list of candidates here:

http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G08/President-Details.phtml

If you've decided to vote 3rd party, check the candidate websites for your state, or my brief overviews below.

Third party candidates

Voting for a third party candidate can make a strong statement. If the two major parties combined can't scrape together 95 percent of the vote, your dissent will be noticed by the news media.

Candidates below this header are on the ballot in fewer than 25 states

Independent candidates

One-state candidates

If you live in a few select states you will see special one-state parties.

Write-ins

Don't vote write-in if you're being pragmatic. Write-in votes get thrown out in most districts. They will almost certainly not be noted when the final results are reported.

If you hate the system so much you want to vote for your neighbor Bob, then by all means go ahead.

Some write-ins that might be expected this fall:

Links

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