When to Say When

Like I mentioned below:

parties are marginalized to a point where A) They can't win, but B) they can still effect the outcome of the election by drawing voters away from a more viable candidate.

A commentary in this AM's Strib echoes this thought:

In every voter's life, there comes a time when you just have to buck up and do the right thing. Whether you like it or not. Because the stakes are so high.

Word to Peter Hutchinson supporters: Now is one of those times. The governor's race is deadlocked between Mike Hatch and Tim Pawlenty and your guy is still stuck at about seven percent in the polls. Which means it's over. He fought the good fight.

Hutchinson ran a honorable and respectable campaign. But with only a few days left, he hasn't placed himself in a position to win. The Jesse analogies can now fall to the wayside. See, Jesse started showing up on the radar by now, and a surge of momentum started materializing in the polls. That has not, and will not, happen here.

Mickelson ends with some common sense advice:

So independents or progressive still leaning toward Hutchinson need to ask themselves this: Do you want to continue with Pawlenty's priorities? If you do, vote for him. If you don't, vote for Hatch. Because this ain't a three-way race anymore. Hatch can beat Pawlenty and Peter Hutchinson can't.

I'm voting for Hatch because his record, unlike Pawlenty's, shows that if he has to choose between the common good and the big suits, he'll ferociously go with the common good. The man's a bulldog -- I wouldn't want to mess with him.

This is a two person race to the finish. It's time to choose between the two or risk getting stuck with an alternative you are not comfortable with.

Flash