Working towards the goal

I didn't want Romney to be the Republican candidate for President.  I am far from alone in that.

However now that the choice is either Romney or Obama it's clear that voting for a third party candidate, and thereby helping Obama win, would be a shoot yourself in the foot move.

We've seen this in the past. Back in the early 1970's after abortion was legalized there was a very good chance that we could have gotten laws passed that would have restricted abortion to just the hard cases--rape, incest, life of the mother--but too many in the pro-life movement wouldn't accept that as a first step towards total abolition of abortion. As a result we got no limitations on abortion.

Demanding perfection left us far worse off than accepting, albeit temporarily, a compromise.

On all the issues that made me want someone else other than Romney Romney is infinitely better than Obama. 

Every journey begins with the first step.  For those of you thinking of throwing your vote away, and helping Obama win, by voting third party because Romney isn't "perfect" ask yourself this question: What's the likelihood that we'll be getting a "perfect" candidate in 2016,2020,2024 if Obama gets reelected this year?

Voting for Romney does not mean we stop working to make sure his administration doesn't support the causes we are passionate about like abortion and religious liberty. Neither does it mean that we shouldn't be working to get more conservatives elected to the Congress. 

Finally voting for Romney is not saying that his positions are where we want to end up. It is saying that Romney's positions are closer to what we want than Obama's and that every step towards our final objectives is a good thing.

Don't rationalize that by voting for a third party you're not helping Obama.  Obama needs to get more votes than Romney to win; especially in the key swing states.  If you vote for some third party guy who 90% of America has never even heard of it's one less vote Obama needs to get--or manufacture-- in order to win.

Don't help Obama win just because we ended up with something other than the best possible Republican candidate.  Instead help pave the way for more conservative Republicans in the future by getting Romney elected in 2012.