New Thing #279--Mixed Ticket

The 2008 General Election is only a few weeks away; I get to help decide who will run our country and state for the next four years.

I've watched the presidential (and the vice-presidential) debates. I've been reading the newspaper, the Internet, and magazines to gather information, and listening to a variety of radio programs to learn about the national, state, and local candidates. Despite all my research, I'm still not sure who I'm voting for in some races. Today I researched third-party and independent candidates that are running for office.

There was a sample ballot in a community newspaper that came in the mail yesterday. In addition to the Presidential race, our U.S. Representative seat is up for grabs, as well as all the state-wide offices. We'll also be electing a state Representative and Senator. Many of the major races have at least three candidates--Republican, Democrat, and Libertarian. The Constitution party and one Independent candidate are on the presidential ballot in Missouri; the State Treasurer and Attorney General races are the only state-wide elections that have candidates from just the two mainstream parties.

As I did my research, I tried to read a variety of Websites. This article from Wikipedia had a good comparison of politics and ideologies of each of the parties. I also went to each party's official Website to read about their platforms, then to the candidate's sites to learn about each of them.

After all my analysis, I concluded that there is no PERFECT candidate. However, I can go to the polls knowing that I've chosen the candidate that's best for me. Now that I've finished researching the candidates, I still have to learn about the numerous other measures that will be on the ballot!