Some of my readers may have heard of the term R.I.N.O., which stands for Republican In Name Only, and D.I.N.O., which stands for Democrat In Name Only.

These terms are basically used by folks who feel Republican candidates or office holders aren’t conservative enough or by Democrats who feel their candidates or office holders aren’t liberal enough.

Sometimes when people feel their party’s candidate is a RINO or DINO, they throw their support behind a third party candidate.

I’d rather vote for a candidate whom I agree with 60-90% of the time, than vote for a candidate who has no chance of winning and basically help elect one that I agree with 10-30% of the time. But that’s just me. Of course, it is a voter’s right to vote for whom they want or not vote at all. Some people believe they are throwing their vote away. I don’t believe that. I think they are just a little misguided.

Do any elected officials or candidates actually toe the party line 100% of the time?

It seems we don’t hear the DINO term being used very often, because it seems the Democrats and progressives/liberals circle the wagons better than the Republicans and conservatives. At least we don’t see too many Democrats going to the media to say that with Nader on the ballot, it pretty much means Obama will lose the state.

Just recently I read on a blog and on some of Montana newspaper websites that Montana will have five Presidential candidates on the ballot in November. I know there are several other Presidential candidates out there that (thankfully) did not make the ballot in Montana.

It looks like on the ballot in November we will have Bob Barr from the Libertarian Party; Ron Paul from the Constitution Party, John McCain from the Republican Party; Ralph Nader as an Independent; and Barack Obama from the Democratic Party all playing at a local polling place near you.

On ESPN they have the football analysts who make their pick just before their Monday night game. They use a term called the “lead pipe lock” when picking which team will be the winner. On the other side, I think it is safe to say that it is a “lead pipe lock” that Paul, Barr, and Nader will NOT be the next President and they will NOT win Montana. But, they may do some harm to Barack Obama and John McCain.

The Democratic and Republican parties in Montana will need to do some work for their candidates so they won’t lose the state because the third party candidates take their votes. They might as well fire up their party and voters because too much is at stake. Saying something like, “A vote for Nader is a vote for McCain” or “A vote for Barr or Paul is a vote for Obama” just might help shock those folks who sling the term RINO and DINO into casting their votes for McCain or Obama.