Thank you Mr. Bates. It takes, I'm certain, considerable amount of time and effort to get this sort of guide together and I appreciate it.

Howard Barnett, however, ran a sleazy primary and the fact that he advocates at-large council districts is simply the final, fatal straw for me.

You endorsed every republican and no democrats?

I am shocked!

If a man of Robert Butkin's character and caliber were running on the Democratic ticket, it would be a different story.

Which Republicans are you endorsing, Mr. Patton?

Yet you have no rationale for your endorsement of Bill Crozier for the state education post.

And I can see why: It's hard to rationalize a candidate who advocates the highly dubious notion of putting Kevlar on old schoolbooks to be used as shields during the unlikely event of school shootings. That's hardly what I call a high-priority need for public education.

Apparently, Michael, you have developed an amazing tolerancy for lunacy and the absurd.

A little advice: If you have a candidate who doesn't match your party leanings and the other who's a looney-tune, simply mark the post as "no endorsement." Your credibility won't suffer as much that way.

W., despite our differences on some issues I try to treat you cordially and with respect, but your impolite and condescending tone towards me here and elsewhere makes that difficult. You should have stopped after the second paragraph.

Yes, I overlooked the State Superintendent's race when I typed up my "Quick Picks" post. I had hoped to write about each race in detail over the course of a couple of weeks, but I simply ran out of time, and trying to put it all together in the wee hours, I missed one.

Sandy Garrett has continued our public schools' enslavement to educational fads. She should have been turned out long ago, and nearly was in 1994.

I listened to the OETA interview with both candidates and was fairly impressed with Crozier. He is an Oklahoma City schoolteacher. He was a district supervisor for the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

The media has focused on the Kevlar textbook idea, but when he explains it, it makes some sense, as part of training teachers and students how they should respond if they find themselves in the midst of school shooting situation.

One pleasant surprise: He supports early foreign language education.

Whether my tone is condescending or impolite is your opinion. The indisputable fact remains that Mr. Crozier became a laughingstock in a multistate area for his preposterous idea. Our state officials need much more credibility than this.

And, frankly, I can think of much more useful ways to use taxpayer money than to coat textbooks with Kevlar.

If you can overlook such silliness, more power to you -- if any power can be gained.

I voted for a republican for state senate and a republican for corporation commissioner.

I thought they were the better candidates, regardless of party.

When you endorse all republicans all the time, it shows that you aren't giving it the critical thought that you are capable of.

Just to follow up on a thread Recyclemichael is continuing, I too also voted for a handful of GOP candidates for the same reasons as his.

I also concur with his assessment of straight-party endorsements. It's myopic thinking.

Only sheep vote straight-party.

i just don't vote for liewyers....er....sorry - lawyers. must have been a freudian slip.