I will admit that I don't pay too much attention to smaller local elections. I will vote for the more visible elections like Sheriff or DA.

You can bet money that I SURE AS HELL will pay attention to the next DA's election LMAO.

Also to what sandwichh has said. Eave was a republican who ran a democratic ticket to get elected, and Tyler, a dem, ran republican because the dem (Eaves ) was incumbent.

Now I will admit than in not paying attention to many smaller races, I will go to the polls to vote some major race such as the US Presidential race and there on the ballot are races I have never heard of the candidates. and in that case I will sometimes leave those blank or I will vote republican. NOT because I vote a straight ticket, but because the safest bet is that the unknown Republican is more likely to be in line with my thinking than that unknown Democrat.

I voted straight party,...ONCE. Never again. And it was Democrat.  Not a bright thing to do. The parties are too mixed up nowadays.

Say Zell Miller , D, is running in for  area, but if you vote straight party you also get, which is for your area, Ted Kennedy, D.  S T U P  I D.

Plus in the south if you vote all Republican you miss many locals. Old rule in the South, if you don't run Dem you don't get elected. Not so much nowadays, still happens though. 

Sailor, good points.

Great for the brain dead who are content to let the parties control their thinking. And sometimes it jumps up anf bites them in the behinder. As in Ken Armbrister. The Sheeple Dems all voted straight party and helped elect Ken. He then ended up being a major factor in the Republican's sucessfull effort to gerrymander the voting districts to enable more Republicans to be elected to Congress. And to borrow an acronym that seems to be popular on the more  illerate posts on here LOL

Roy Mark wrote this message

The same holds true for those who would vote for Hillary just because she is a woman or for Obama just because he is black.

or for that matter, anyone who votes for McCain just because he is a man, or white. just as stupid.

Look at each candidate individually, judge him/her by the stances he/she has taken on the issues. what he is like, and yes (Obama it IS an issue) the associations he keeps.

Then decide who you think is best. Don't base you decision on things that have no relevancy, like sex, race, looks, age, etc...

You do anything else, you are voting the straight stupid ticket.

Some choice I would consider for president...

consider, because they have not gone through the election process so they have not been examined enough on issues for me to decide...

Colin Powell.

Condi Rice

Kay Baily Hutchinson

Two of the above are black, two of them are women. Only one is a man, and only one is white. From what I know of them now, (as I said I have not got enough details to make a "Final Answer") I dont think I would have a problem with any of them.

The rationale behind straight-ticket voting is not so hard to fathom. The cold, hard reality is that the majority party controls all the levers. It absolutely matters who runs the committees because they get to determine the committees as well as the voting strength. You may not be happy with the individual who somehow dodged an ethics violation or worse in another district of another state, but when push comes to shove, you NEED that guttersnipe in the chamber so your party has a better chance of passing its preferred legislation.