Some of you might remember my long-ago thread entitled "Why I Became a Democrat" wherein I proposed the possibility of voting in the opposing party's primary in order to do them the most damage.
This time, the situation is a bit different.  Instead of a primary, it's the general election.  Same one-party state, though.  We all know RI's going for Kerry, question is how much.

Remember the last go-round how much the Dems whined about Gore's having the majority of the popular vote, and being the legitimate President?  This is a strategy for eroding the number of votes cast for Kerry, and therefore lessening his legitimacy if he should win, and also lessening his chances for a successful legal challenge should he lose.

As a bit of background, remember that the Naderites are extreme Libs while Kerry supporters are just a bit closer to the center.  That situation can be used against Kerry.

Conversation goes something like this:

Me:  "So, who you thinking of voting for"
Lib: "Kerry, of course!"
Me: "Really?"
Lib: "What do you mean?  Who else would I vote for?  Not Bush, that's for sure!"
Me: "It's just that I always thought of you as a real progressive, ya know?"
Lib: "I AM A PROGRESSIVE!"
Me:  "I know, I know.  It's just that what with Kerry winning this state so big, I just thought you would vote your conscience and vote for Nader.  He's the REAL Progressive here.   Much more so than Kerry.  We both know that."
Lib: " I'm not doing anything to jeopardize Kerry's election."
Me: "Well, this state's going for Kerry, so no danger of that.  If a few REAL Progressives like you, you know , good liberals, vote for Nader, Kerry's still going to beat Bush.  But you'd be voting for another REAL Progressive, and who knows?  Mavbe you and a few other Nader supporters could make the Democratic Party a little more Progressive, ya know?"
Lib: "Hmmm..."

You can see that you are using the Libs instincts to move him/her in the intended direction.  Much easier to do this than to persuade them to vote for a non-Liberal candidate.  Every conversation will be a little different, but the fundamental tactic of using their guilt feelings about not being "Progressive" enough against them holds true.  Try it, it works.

As an aside, if the above conversation reminds some conservatives of attempts to get them to "vote their conscience" and split the conservative vote amongst a number of candidates, perhaps that is no coincidence.  Think about it.  

Shamless btt for the day crew.