I know nobody asked, but here's my positions on a couple candidates and referendii in this fast-upcoming election. As always, I encourage you to research the issues that matter to you. And then, you know, vote the way I tell you.

National

Obama-Biden. Please? I mean, really, do I need to go through all the reasons why I support the Irish nerd?

Illinois

The Illinois Constitution requires that every 20 years we have to vote whether to have a constitutional convention to revise our state constitution, and 2008 is one of those years. This is a tricky issue -- is there enough benefit to possibly be had to justify the risk of the changes that could occur? At this time in Illinois' history, I'm going to go with the League of Women Voters of Illinois and vote No to a constitutional convention.

Every election in Illinois we get to vote whether to retain our judges. You can educate yourself about all the judges and there are certainly a few judges that I would recommend you vote No on. But just between you and me I'm going for simplicity and voting No on all the judges. I'm not worried that my vote, nor even yours if you follow my example, are going to vote out a good judge. The stats show that judges are overwhelming retained, by large margins. And I have this odd idea that even a good judge can benefit from noticing that a few people voted not to retain them. The job they do is so crazy-important that a moment of soul-searching every couple years is certainly not too much to ask.

And heck, since I'm on a roll, why not talk about some places I don't even live:

California

Californians, please vote No on Proposition 8. I love being married to the person I love, and I think everyone should have the right to marry the person they love, no matter the gender of that person. If you'd like the perspective of someone who actually lives in your state, I refer you to the earnestness of Jesse Thorn.

Ottawa County, Michigan

Somehow I ended up on the New Holland Brewing mailing list and this week they sent me an email about an election proposal to allow the sale of beer of Sundays. We can already buy all the liquor we want (and more!) in Illinois on Sundays, so it took me a moment of research to discover that they were referring to an issue in Ottawa County, Michigan. So, New Holland needs to work on targeting their mailings a little better. But sure, heck, the citizens of Ottawa County deserve the right to purchase a refreshing beverage any day of the week as much as the rest of us. Please note that this one of those confusingly worded ballots -- if you want to vote Yes to Sundays then you need to vote No on the ballot.