Either McCain or Obama will be the next US president.
Also (non-US peeps wikipedia "Electoral College") some states it won't matter who you vote for since it will be so tilted, but in "swing" states (Ohio, Florida, etc....) I would posit that voting for a 3rd party wild turkey is either throwing away your vote or simply a way to express self through politics (...dinner party convo: "Hey I voted for...."). Both are fine reasons- people can vote for whoever they want. But since it is a fact none of the alterna-candidates will win it becomes a debate about 'overall outcome' and what is often referred to as the evil of two lessers. It just does.
And how folks approach that depends if they view global politics like chess, or checkers and how certain patterns directly effect you & of course how much your life overlaps with mainstream American society (Having money, a career, etc...)

those are valid points. i understood what you meant when you said a 3rd party vote was throwing your vote away. However, many people feel the Democrats and Republicans are fairly interchangeable, which I feel is a valid point of view. I would have voted for Ron Paul, or Kucinich, but in reality I don't feel like anyone who's actually allowed to be president will be much better than anyone else they let in. Remember Gore won in 2000 and the supreme court, stacked with Bush appointees, straight handed it to W. I had a little hope for Obama, but he voted for the Fisa Amendment Act like a bitch. Goodbye 4th amendment. The Dems aren't that much different than the Repugnants, they just have less leeway to be openly evil. Case in point, why aren't ALL the Dems moving to impeach? Because most of them are closet Rs. Nancy Pelosi has said we can't even consider it. Really? Bah!

anyway i'm not telling anyone how to vote, you just seemed kind of hostile toward someone "throwing their vote away" voting for who they actually want in office. if we keep voting 2 party that's all we're gonna get. but anyone who comes after W is gonna seem fucking awesome by comparison.

i dont know much bout politics
and it may be a bit unrelated but check this out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br31mdP8-Ug

i kinda don't care, nobodies gonna do a bang-up job anymore and there are many reasons for that but i'll have to say that this is my new candidate;
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d

hahaha that shit's funny and her energy policy wasn't retarded. who knew?

vote nader. end the corrupt 2party- cooperate funding system that our gov't has become. that is all

I actually lean more toward libertarian than any other party. Ive thought about this exact thing you bring up quite a bit. I actually dont really like Obama or Mcane. Now, I realize that if I vote libertain this term by vote will probably be wasted as theres pretty much no chance of a liberterian win. However... at the same time im kinda giving up on the cause if I do...if I just never vote for the party I favor because theres no chance of winning how on earth is it ever going to move forward ?

Voting with your dollars has a greater impact than presidential elections in this capitalist system and we get to do it every day.

There is also a line of thinking that says: Screw it- let things get so bad that a radical change is somehow forced.
There always exists a main stream in American society, and that will never change.
We (SP rockers) may not drink soda or eat chips- but Coca Cola & Doritos will always sell mass amounts of product to billions.
Look at the best seller book lists- are those what you're reading? many are. Top 10 albums... the masses are buying- they do "exist".
There are in fact differences between Republican & Democrat candidates. Does anyone think the current war in Iraq would have been started by a Gore administration? Granted Gore was another Generic-crat.
The big mainstream candidates are inextricably intertwined with big money interests because that's the way our society has evolved (K Street).
You can cling to ideals but you are delusional if you think the effect of "big money" will be ever be neutralized or even curtailed in American politics, anymore than it could be from the entertainment industry.
Libertarians would do better to split resources amongst House & Senate campaigns in key states then start to nurture a candidate who could sell for the 2016 elections- Ron Paul could be their Yoda.