We've all been rightly focusing on GOTV, and how we need every able-bodied carbon-based life-form who's registered to vote to get to the polls -- either on Tuesday, or (if you live in a state that allows early voting, and didn't get nailed by Sandy) as soon as you can. And it's a given that the other side is making the same kind of push, as well; after all, voter intimidation and blatantly false advertising can't be expected to solve every problem!
But after I looked at one of the various tracking maps that shows how close (or how far) Obama and Romney are from hitting the magic number 270, I read talktothemike's diary about how his boss -- a heavy evangelical Christian -- simply cannot vote for Mitt Romney. That doesn't mean he's voting for Obama; he just can't pull the lever for Mittens. And there were a few comments that mentioned other folks who aren't voting, either.
So that got me thinking: Who else isn't voting Tuesday? Why aren't they voting Tuesday? Why might they vote instead for Gary Johnson or Virgil Goode or Jill Stein, knowing they don't have a hope in Hell of winning, and might penalize the party they usually support? And (of course) in this game of electoral inches, we have to ask the Chuck Todd question: Who's that going to help?
Let's discuss under the socialist tangerine beignet.
Now, as stated above, there are people with "legitimate reasons" why they're not coming out to vote, and it has to do with the person representing the party they would "normally" vote for. The evangelical objection to Romney's Mormonism has been around for as long as Romney has been running for office -- in Presidential terms, that's six years, which is (as they say) a long time in politics. And even though Baptist minister/radio bloviator Robert Jeffress insists the problem isn't going to be much of a problem, he does what every other FoxSpews writer/talking head does: Acknowledge reality for a paragraph, and then get back to "teh Crazy":
These evangelical Christian minorities are not going to suddenly transform into Republican supporters of Mitt Romney. They will simply sit out this election which in a close election could be enough to deny President Obama a second term.
(snip)
I don’t pretend to know whether Mitt Romney will win on November 6. However, I am certain that President Obama’s hard turn to the left and Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan have made Mitt Romney much more palatable to evangelical Christians—like me.
Then there are those hard-right, bright red GOPers who are not happy Mittens has so cavalierly thrown them under his can-carrying campaign bus in order to not look like one of them... which of course, he was exactly how Mittens
tried to look for the entire primary season! That goes right up until today, when it was revealed Romney surrogate (and part-time teeth-whitening spokesman) Norm Coleman
told Ohio voters that they shouldn't worry about Roe v. Wade being overturned, because... well, if Dubya didn't do it, then Romney won't do it, because they're both moderates, right? Right?
Needless to say, that's got some folks on the far, FAR Right a little perturbed -- like Soledad O'Brien's favorite guest, Bryan Fischer:
“[Norm] Coleman is out there as a Romney surrogate running up the white flag of surrender on the sanctity of human life — ‘it’s not going to be reversed,’” said Bryan Fischer, a top official at the socially conservative American Family Association, in an email to TPM.
Of course, there are people on our side of the aisle who are none too pleased with President Obama, and are either staying home or pulling the lever for a third-party candidate. Case in point:
(I'm sorry to interrupt, Ms. Paglia, but would you like ranch dressing or vinaigrette with your word salad?)
Let's hear from someone I usually agree with, and who "twists" my own motto, "If you don't vote, don't bitch":
(I'm sorry, George. I still love you, but on this one, you missed by a mile... no matter where -- or what -- you were aiming at the time.)
And POTUS has had his own problems with religious voters on his side of the aisle -- specifically, with his decision to support same-sex marriage. While some came to understand that Obama is trying to be President of ALL Americans, this blogger still sees a problem:
The Black Church put George Bush in the White House because of some kind of Gay issue had come up before that election. They shot themselve in the foot while hitting gay people over the head with their bibles. Are we going to see a re-run of what happened in that election. This time; will my fellow Blacks give this election to Rommey to teach President Obama a lesson for agreeing Gays have a right to Marry? Will they kill themselve and the rest of us by derailing the Obama re-election campaign? I'm hoping they will remember the hell those eight years put working fathers and mothers through. I hoping they didn't forget how he lied to us. I hope my religious Brothers and Sisters remember how many soldiers are dead for nothing.
And finally, there are those on both sides who are of voting age (and may even be registered), but simply won't vote because... well, it's a Fashion Thing. It's a Cool Thing. You want to know how I know it's a Fashion Thing and a Cool Thing?
They've got their own Facebook page!
So who are these people going to hurt -- I mean, besides themselves?
Well, look at the Swing States: With the exception of New Hampshire, they're all in Romneyland, which stretches from heartland states like Ohio and Wisconsin, to southwestern states like Arizona, where I think the Latino vote is going to bring it home for us. These are the places where it'll be down to 1 or 2 percentage points, and we might even see a recount or one of the candidates holding out hope for the absentee ballots. And the more of their respective people stay away, the better for the other guy.
Will losing the evangelicals and the hard-right crazees help Obama in the deep red states? Not a chance, because they're totally down with voting against their interests if it gets the scary black secret Muslim Socialist out of "their White House!" But in the places where it's close (Lookin' at YOU, Ohio), the places where it's going to be close but we didn't want to believe it (Lookin' at you AGAIN, Arizona), and the places where we look at like a five-year old looks at a presumably-haunted house (Dare I say... FLORIDA), this is one thing we cannot control... but just might help us out.