The August Primary is very important. Not only will everyone be narrowing down the field of candidates in their party for the major offices, but there will also be other party offices that will only be voted on by the public on the August 7th primary ballot like the county and township committeemen and committeewomen. These people are your direct line of communication into and out from the party. Use the Sec of State site to find your township if you are uncertain which one you are in (most people never look at that line on their voter notification card) and while you're there, make sure you are registered to vote at your current address.

Thanks for the important reminders, Anne.

Although the area in which we live is conservative when viewed as a block of voters, I would like to point out that West County isn't composed of only conservative voters.
But if someone new to the area read only Patch for election information, he or she would come away feeling that only conservative voices counted. Why? Because all of the bloggers, good men they may be, are conservative. Not having even one blogger with a liberal or moderate voice is a disservice to area voters.
That person would assume Claire McCaskill was a minor senator whose term was defined in 2008 in the presidential election. Really? In reality, she is an effective, fairly moderate U.S. Senator who works well with leaders on either side of the aisle, a characteristic which is in very short supply these days. She is currently being attacked by conservatives like Karl Rove who are bent on installing yet another candidate from the extreme right wing of the Republican party who will have very little ability to work with those on the other side of the aisle.
Patch loves Todd Akin...noted.
As is always the case, the upcoming election has huge implications for our county, our state, and our country. We are all looking for information to bolster our own beliefs or perhaps be persuaded to rethink an issue. The only way that happens is when publications present issues from differing viewpoints. I remind the Patch that included in "our" are conservatives, liberals and moderates...not just conservatives.

Thanks for expressing your views, Jim; which is one of the really nice elements of Patch. As an independent community news site, Patch IS NOT affiliated with any political party, unlike some other news organizations. It also is imperative to note the difference between editorial coverage versus blogging content. Patch provides both. Eureka-Wildwood Patch editors report on news, which happens to have been headlined locally moreso this past year by Republicans who are campaigning. We report that news when they do something publicly in our communities. With Todd Akin being a Wildwood resident, I tend to monitor his actions fairly closely, just like I do for other Wildwood citizens; it makes no difference to me which political party he is. I would have to say the St. Louis Republicans also are good about proactively providing information. It would be good to get just as much from Democratic sources. Conversely, bloggers who offer their viewpoints under Patch's Local Voices section are providing their own opinions. And, in the case of Eureka-Wildwood Patch, George Weber has been blogging for quite some time. He also filed for the Second Congressional District this year, and has blogged about that on the site. And he is is a Democrat. He even blogged about when President Barack Obama was interviewed by 60 Minutes. So, just to clear it up, both parties have been included on the site in a variety of ways. Jim, I invite you to blog to add to the flow of Democratic-minded issues.

Thanks Julie. I appreciate your reply. It is just frustrating living here and not being part of the political vast majority. The Post Dispatch, I suppose, is considered to be a liberal paper but it is just a shadow of a newspaper now...really just a bunch of ads with an occasional article. So two sources of local news are left. The West Magazine which is slanted far to the right and now the Patch. I can imagine it would be harder to secure opinions of non conservatives. I would be glad to offer a blog but I am not an elected official so I am not sure it has the same meaning. By the way, the only reason I mentioned Todd Akin is because of the appearance of the page above. just look at the "More on Patch" section. I was looking at this as a first time viewer. Had to comment on it. Thank you again, Jim

Jim, Not all people in the area are conservative even though it may seem that way. There are a lot of us in the area. We are out there tryting to get our voice out there. I think the patch is a good way to get our ideas out there.

Make a special note to remember to watch the Free and Equal Election Debate between third party candidates for the Presidency, Gov. Gary Johnson (Libertarian) and Dr. Jill Stein (Green) to be aired tonight on Monday evening, Nov. 5th from 9:00 - 10:30 pm Eastern Time. Perform a worthwhile civic duty, and be certain to listen in on this historic debate so that you can make an informed decision on voting day. Third party candidates who will be on the ballot in most states deserve to be heard.

http://freeandequal.org/?v=1