Next Tuesday is the second Tuesday in November, and so for many of us (most of us?) this means that there are local and/or state elections to think about. These are the types of elections that those supporting the various Occupy movements should approve of: typically little money is invested in campaigning and politicians who are frequently known by their supporters or at least only one or two degrees separated. Furthermore, those people who get elected to national offices (which is what the media usually focuses on, and unfortunately what many of us, including me, focus on) usually occupied state offices previously, and those people who get elected to state offices usually occupied local offices previously.

That's a round-about way of saying that it matters who gets elected to local offices, so vote next Tuesday!

I lack Articleman's and Nate Silver's ability to condense national events down into a semi-digestible summary, so rather than even trying, I'm going to talk about what's going on in my corner and invite/encourage my fellow dagbloggers to do the same in the comments.

OK, first, there's the Albemarle County School Board (although my address is Charlottesville, I'm technically outside the city boundary) for which I can choose one member-at-large. The choices are Cindi Burket, Ned Gallaway, and Joseph Oddo. In researching these, Oddo was easy to eliminate. He home schools his kids (nothing wrong with that, but not someone I want on the County School Board), and his "educational hero" is Ron Paul. 'nuff said. So, that leaves Burket and Gallaway. I'm leaning towards Gallaway because he's a former high school teacher and his kids are currently in school.

Next, there's the Soil and Water Conservation Director. Here, we pick two of the following: Steven G. Meeks, Lonnie M. Murray, and David B. Norford. So, I just need to figure out who I don't like, and the answer is Norford. All I really have to go on is their blurbs in the Hook (and Murray's campaign's Facebook page), but when I read what they think is the "critical issue", he loses.

The rest are relatively easy, I like David Toscano as my Member of the House of Delegates. I'm on his mailing list, and I've liked what he's had to say. I'm less happy with Edd Houck as my Member of the Senate of Virginia, but his challenger looks even worse. Denise Lunsford (D) is the only one running for our Commonwealth's Attorney, and Chip Harding (R) is the only one running for Sheriff. Despite the "(R)" after his name, from what I can tell he's not so bad. That's actually true about a lot of our local Republicans here (Bryce Reeves being an exception).

So, tell me about your local elections. If you have to do some research first, do it now. It'll give you a chance to talk to your friends prior to Tuesday. But, please share. I'm interested in how much time others spend on these decisions. I don't think I spend as much time as I should, but I also think I spend more time than most (as if that's a valid excuse).