I generally vote on individual races. I think there's only 3 real races on my ballot this time around - President, US House and MN House. I'm definitely going Kerry for president. While the state Presidential vote is up for grabs, in both the state and US house races, the DFL candidate is a lock to win in my district, so I may vote for a 3rd party candidate if there's one that seems ok, just to give them some support. Other than that, there are judges, which are all non-partisan in Minnesota, and I think my County Land and Soil Commission seat is up. I generally abstain from even voting in that, as not only do I not know anything about the candidates (it's also a non-partisan office), I don't even honestly have any idea what the Land and Soil Commission does.
Which was wierd to see a negative TV ad from Voinovich against Fingerhut. I guess you have to spend the money. I will vote for Fingerhut even though he was doing some nasty pre-emptive attacks against my boy Jerry Springer. Heck, Fingerhut actually walked across Ohio! You gotta love the effort. Now, if he would have done it like that kid who Moonwalks everwhere...
Oh yea, forgot to add my ticket. I usually pick the big races after getting some information and party doesn't impress me. Once we get to the local races, I always vote against any tax increase...******** the schools, ******** the children and ******** the "can you pay for my unaccountable job" type levies. Then, I will vote against any and all established name. You know the people who have that name like Brown or some locally known political family name. I like new, untested people to get a chance. There is this one judge with the first name of Judith. She has this ad that says she is the real Judge Judy! I will vote against her just for her stupid ad.
Bush for President (a vote that is purely symbolic in this State) Obama for Senate (Keyes is certifiable) Kurt Eckhardt for Congress (largely because Jan Schakowsky is our state's version of Nancy Pelosi, UGG!!!) For Judges, I follow along with the various qualification/not-qualified designations of various independent ranking entitites.