Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are vying for voter attention in swing states; Texas isn't considered one by either campaign.
But presuming you want to make your voice heard even though the major parties think Texas will go for McCain, your other choices include Libertarian Bob Barr, plus eight write-in candidates, including consumer activist Ralph Nader.
And then you move into less-charted territory where this is often a significant drop-off in participation as voters work their way down the ballot.
Right below the presidential race in Texas, there's a heated contest for the United States Senate seat currently held by John Cornyn. The former Texas attorney general and supreme court justice, first elected to the Senate in 2002, is seeking a second six-year term.
His Democratic opponent, state Rep. Rick Noriega of Houston, a colonel in the National Guard, repeatedly tags Cornyn as President George W. Bush's echo on policies ranging from Iraq to tax cuts that Democrats say favor the rich.
The Libertarian Party has put forth Yvonne Adams Schick of Spicewood, west of Austin, who lists her profession as real estate.
Cornyn and Noriega have two public television debates, the first was Thursday and the second is Oct. 16.
The next slot on your ballot is for your district in the U.S. House of Representatives. To find out which district you're in, for the U.S. House, Texas Senate and Texas House, check your voter registration card. It will list them for your precinct.
Most districts were drawn by Republicans to elect a Republican, and the remainder to elect Democrats.
One congressional district with some chance of changing hands is the 22nd, in the Houston area, where Democrat Nick Lampson of Houston faces re-election in an area that leans Republican. Opponents include Republican Pete Olson of Sugar Land and Libertarian John Wieder of Alvin.
Less likely to change, but nonetheless combative, is the Austin-to-Houston 10th, where incumbent Republican Michael McCaul is challenged by Democrat Larry Joe Doherty and Libertarian Matt Finkel. All call Austin home.
Next on the ballot is for one of the three seats on the oil and gas and transportation regulating Railroad Commission. Incumbent Michael Williams, a Republican, is opposed by Democrat Mark Thompson of Hamilton and Libertarian David Floyd of Austin.
Then come races for re-election by three Republican justices on the Texas Supreme Court, and another three on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. All have Democratic opponents except Criminal Appeals Judge Cathy Cochran.
That almost guarantees that Cochran's Libertarian opponent, William Bryan Strange III, will get more than the necessary 5 percent of the vote in a statewide race to qualify the Libertarians for automatic ballot status in 2010 from Democrats who don't want to vote for a Republican.
Next on the ballot will be races for the State Board of Education in seven of the board's 15 districts. And after that come races for 15 of the state's 31 senate districts.
All 150 state representative seats are up, though less than two dozen are considered to have the potential for a party switch. Republicans currently have 78 seats, with another Republican-leaning district to be filled.
Democrats have 71 and are working hard to get to a majority of 76 - which might or might not allow the unseating of Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick.
Below that are county races. In most counties, sample ballots are available on the county election administrator's Web sites. Sample ballots can also be found at http://www.wcmessenger.com/election
And, of course, you probably already know that the deadline for registering to vote in the Nov. 4 general election was Monday - Oct. 6. Hope you're registered. Early voting starts Oct. 20.
And so on...
Why would John McCain go to negative campaigning about Barack Obama, dragging up a Chicago educator who four decades ago was one of the bombing Weathermen?
And why would Obama's campaign respond by bringing up McCain's involvement as one of the Keating Five, senators who sought to help ease regulation on a savings and loan executive who later went to prison?
McCain is going negative because he thinks his positives have gone as high as they can and his only chance is to run up Obama's negative rating.
Obama is hitting back, to try to avoid the flat-footed stance that John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, underwent from a group running ads challenging his naval conduct as a Swift Boat skipper in Vietnam.
If McCain continues on that track, it will be a sign of his desperation. If Obama does, he runs the risk of undermining his claim that he'll run a different kind of campaign.
Contact McNeely at dmcneely@austin.rr.com or (512) 458-2963.
