Why do third party candidates get so few votes...

[weallbleed]

The reasons I think:

-most people aren't aware of how the electoral college works
-third parties are third parties because they are out of the mainstream, and represent few people's actual views.
-people just aren't too familiar with them due to lack of media coverage.

that said, I've decided that I'll never vote for the lesser of two evils in a non-competetive race. Since SD is not in play, I will vote Badnarik, even though I reluctantly find Kerry very marginally better than Bush and would vote for him if I lived in a swing state. I will vote for Daschle because while I'm not a fan of him, I'd rather have him than someone like Thune who doesn't even believe in evolution, and is now campaigning on that stupid anti-gay marriage amendment.

[weallbleed]

I find such views asinine, and I do not want someone who holds them to be in public office, the same way I would not want a Holocaust denier or someone who believes those "Bush ordered 9/11" type conspiracy theories in office. For anyone to ignore such blatant evidence against creationism due to their belief in Biblical innerancy is simply a zealot I would prefer not having authority.

I barely care either way about gay marriage, i'd rather just have the government get out of marriage altogether, but this is not an issue worth amending the Constitution over.