There's a lot of demoralized Republicans in my office today.

[apnu]

28. None of them in my office thinks Romney will win.

None of them wanted Romney in the first place. They were, initially, very taken by Cain. Then they fell back to Newt, begrudgingly after a very brief flirtation with Perry.

They were appalled how poorly run the primary season was, and are appalled that Romney hasn't tightened the national campaign up.

So their convinced Romney can't win it regardless of what they want. They believe he's the weakest candidate of the field this year. They just don't have any faith in Romney to close a deal with the American people. Which is true. I haven't seen this weak of an opponent since Walter Mondale in 1984. Yes, Romney is weaker than Bob Dole.

Your story follows a simular vein to what I hear in the office, only with out needing to "send a message" They won't, perhaps can't conceive of voting for a Democrat over a Republican. Their party bigotry runs that deep. To them, "sending a message" to the GOP is to vote for a tea bagger or a libertarian -- anything other than a Democrat.

Now, I'm in Illinois where Obama has a 2-1 edge over Romney, so their vote for Romney won't matter one bit, and they know it. But you'd think they're so disgusted with Obama they'd be proud to at least cast a symbolic vote against the President, but Romney is so weak they can't even muster that kind of excitement.

When I encounter Democrats and liberals saying they're not going to vote because IL is a "safe" state, I say "why wouldn't you vote? Aren't you proud to pull the lever for the first African American President in history? I want to be a active part of history and say 'Hell yeah I voted for that guy!' I also want to get to the polls and say to the Republicans: I reject your policies and platforms. Don't you want to say that too?"