[USCG SimTech]

This is why the Democrats win so often. Conservatives vote their conscience, liberals vote to win.

Very rare you will ever cast your vote FOR the candidate you want to win. Always cast your ballots in whatever manner it takes to do the most damage to the candidate you DO NOT want elected.

[ichabod1]

Conservatives vote to win many times and live to rue the day.

[fr_freak]

This is why the Democrats win so often. Conservatives vote their conscience, liberals vote to win.

That may be true, but there is another aspect you are not taking into account. The reason that Democrat voters can vote for their second-favorite Democrat is because they know that regardless of which Democrat gets in, that guy will move the country left. The Republicans, on the other hand, rarely if ever move the country right. Instead, they simply slwo the rate of leftward creep (sometimes). So, a conservative can never truly feel at ease when voting Republican, while a leftwing nutbag can feel entirely at ease voting Democrat. Ask yourself this: when is the last time A Democrat in office did anything remotely conservative? Now ask when the last time was that a Republican in office did something liberal? See?