Why a Vote for Virgil Goode is a Vote for Barack Obama

A candidate that is only on the ballot in 26 states is not going to win the presidency.  Well, I guess if that candidate was on the ballot in the right 26 states, he or she might have a chance, but the 26 states where Virgil Goode is on the ballot don't even add up to 270.  Add to that the fact that he has no campaign resources (i.e. money for televison ads, mail etc) and you get the picture that this is a candidate who has no chance of winning the election and is only in it to act as a spoiler. 

Virgil Goode is an affable well liked former state legislator and congressman from southside Virginia.  He's folksy, conservative, and pro-rights.  He is running for president on the Constitution Party ticket and his main issue is stopping illegal immigration.  He is on the ballot in the states of Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming - (257 Electoral).  Additionally, voters in the states of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia can write in Virgil's name.

One may ask if Virgil is so against Obama, why would he run as essentially a "spoiler candidate?"  Virgil has said he does not care if he tilts the election in Obama's favor because there isn't any difference between the two major candidates.

There has been some talk of Virgil doing in Virginia what Ralph Nader is thought to have done to Al Gore in Florida in 2000.  Gore's supporters contended that those who voted for Ralph Nader would likely have voted for Gore had Nader not been on the ballot.  The comparison is likely not correct because Nader had higher name ID than Goode likely has.  But Goode should not be discounted in rural Virginia where he seems to have pitched his tent.  It is difficult to drive on the rural highways without seeing Goode signs on the side of the road, signs that were likely placed by the candidate himself.


Lt. Governor Bill Bolling told a gather of conservative activists in Richmond last Thursday that he does not believe Virgil will be a factor in Virginia. 

However, if Virgil is successful in taking away enough votes from Mitt Romney in Virginia to tilt the state toward Obama, then he will be in at least a small part responsible for consigning Virginia and the rest of the nation to four more years of the same, or worse, of what we have had the last four years.  This is truely a case of a vote for Virgil being a vote for Obama.