Read it and Weep

Who I support:

• For President: George W. Bush; I'm about 51% in favor of the war in Iraq, and also in favor of a stakeholder economy, including his social security reform proposals, and in favor of free trade; Kerry seems to be against these.
• For United States Senator: Libertarian Jerry Kohn; he hasn't a hope against the anti-trade tax & spend Obama, but Keyes is a joke (without a hope, either).
• For Representative in Congress: Erin R. Zweigart; she's a little too rabidly anti-abortion for me, but she supports finishing the job in Iraq, unlike Walter B. Steele, the Libertarian who's OK, if a little too rabidly anti-government. (Anyway, neither one has a hope against the incumbent Jerry F. Costello, who's a conservative on social issues, and a liberal on fiscal ones. Ugh.)
• For Representative in the Illinois House of Representatives: Mike J. Bost. Partly because of this, but also against our Democrats.
• For County Sheriff: John Sytsma, partly because of his experience, but again to stick it to the Democrats.
• For Circuit Clerk: Christy Clutts-Hale, because the incumbent came out in support of Maag (see below).
• For Judge of the Supreme Court: Lloyd A. Karmeier; partly because of things like this, and his rating from the Illinois State Bar Association, and the fact that he favors tort reform, but also to stick it to the Democrats.
• For Judge of the Circuit Court, Jackson County: P. Michael Kimmel; he got a better rating from the Illinois State Bar Association than his opponent.
• To be Retained in Office as Judge of the Appellate Court: Gordon E. Maag; NO. See above.
• To be Retained in Office as Judge of the Appellate Court: Terrence J. Hopkins; Yes. (see the Illinois State Bar Association)
• To be Retained in Office as Judge of the Circuit Court: William G. Schwartz; No. Because as the local paper put it:

The state agency that polices judges has charged a Jackson County circuit court judge with improperly banning Southern Illinois University Law School students from practicing in county courts in retaliation for the law school's refusal to admit his stepson.

You wonder how he got a "recommended" rating from the Illinois State Bar Association.

Update

A physician friend of ours has a very low opinion of Thomas Kupferer, the incumbent coroner, so I'll be voting for Steve McBride. Even though he's a firefighter and arson investigator with the Carbondale Fire Department, not a doctor. According to The Southern Illinoisan,

McBride will argue that it is not necessary for the coroner to be a physician, because all coroner's inquests that happen inside a county have to be done by a physician outside of the county, according to state law.

That said, I don't think it would be a disaster if all of my choices lost.