[Hoot Gibson]

There is a difference in missing a primary when all the candidates are pro-life and agree on so many other issues as well, and voting in a Presidential election. I don't think it was okay, but it was an oversight that until this election did not seem all that big a deal.

But if somehow you already know that Virginia is lost to Hillary, I suppose at that point it boils down to principle. I couldn't do it because I know what she'll do if elected. I believe it still matters what we do at a personal level even if the outcome is hopeless. But even if I lived in Virginia, I would still have been allowed to vote for Cruz or Trump or whoever the Republican candidate was to be in the actual election. I corrected my registration so that in the future I won't be denied in the caucus again. You can hardly say that my missing primary vote is a vote for Hillary though.

I didn't make a big deal of your voting 3rd party when Barack ran, I just would not have done the same. You know my position, I am not at all convinced that Trump will roll over on conservatives. If he is elected and if he does roll over on us I will happily admit it. But like I have said, I believe it to be extremely likely that abortions will explode if Hillary gains the White House. That alone sets him apart in my book.

I never voted for a third party when Obama ran. I voted for McCain and I voted for Romney. I never said otherwise. In fact, I have explained repeatedly that I have held my nose and voted for Dole, McCain, and Romney and then resolved to never again give my vote to somebody who does not earn it.

Voting always boils down to principle. I don't understand how a pro-life conservative could ever believe facilitating the nomination of Donald Trump by failing to vote against him was okay. Out of all 17 Republican primary candidates, Trump is the only one who has a long history of donating to liberal, pro-abortion Democrats. Trump has flip-flopped and been caught lying so many times, ignoring his past deeds and accepting his word that he is now pro-life and will remain pro-life once elected is just not good enough for me.

Trump only trailed Hillary by 3 points in the last Virginia poll, but there is no way that he will do better here than Romney did. The state now has crooked Democrat, Terry McCauliffe, as its governor, and thousands of convicted felons recently had their voting rights automatically restored. I will be surprised if Trump does not lose Virginia by double digits.

Regardless of the politics here, I will never vote for a presidential candidate who I don't believe is fit for the office - but I will vote for the most qualified conservative candidate on my ballot.