Elections and stupid choices

One of the regulars at Right Wing News proves why conservatives always lose elections:

Then (if you get your way) all the Democrats and all the Liberals vote for the Liberal Democrat, most Republicans and some Conservatives vote for the Republican, some Conservatives vote Libertarian, some Conservatives vote for the Constitution Party guy, and the rest of the Conservatives realise the Constitution party is nearly as bad on foreign policy and the war on terror as Ron Paul and vote for some other third party. Congratulations! The Democrats win an overwhelming plurality!

-CavalierX

Which was a response in part to this, from me:

Let's say you have three candidates:

1) Liberal democrat
2) Squishy, barely anything Republican
3) Charismatic, principled, charming conservative running for the Constitution Party

This was from an exchange on one of John Hawkins' posts about why you should support the Republicans, even if they run the second coming of Karl Marx for President because the Democrats are automatically worse. Now, my point was that Hawkins' post was stupid in some elections because in some elections you will have a third party candidate who is clearly a better candidate, all things being equal, than the others. Hence my saying a "charismatic, principled, charming" conservative (or libertarian) as opposed to "he just has all the right views." A candidate who not only has the right platform, but who could eloquently advance it in a debate between candidates.

The biggest, most glaring mistake made by people like CavalierX, and it's common on the right, is the assumption that the left votes monolithically. If it did, then Ralph Nader would never have gotten more than a handful of votes against Gore in 2000. It would almost be a worthwhile investment for conservatives to fund opposition left-wing parties like the Green Party to the tune of $1 for every $2-$3 they give to support parties like the Constitution, Libertarian and some Republican Parties, just to further divide the left.

My point still stands regardless. When you have a scenario similar to what I showed above, it makes no sense to just play it safe when you have a candidate who could trounce the Republican and Democrat, if only given the chance. With enough effort from conservatives who normally support the Republican Party, a Constitution Party candidate in the mold of #3 above could easily go from being a fringe candidate to being the one who turns the Republican into a fringe candidate. The real reason that minor parties typically fail is that people will note vote for them, regardless of the quality of the candidate.