Here's something else very interesting about politics. Here in southern Cal, we have a redistricting situation, which resulted in two safe democratic seats being rejiggered into but one. So the two incumbent democratic Congressman (Berman and Sherman) went into the primary with a Republican, and the two dems got the most votes, so they are now in the final election for the one seat. Two dems, similar voting records and likely similar beliefs and philosophies - this is probably the most contentious Congressional race in the country (it is the most expensive, I believe), and the two almost came to blows this last week (see on youtube).
This is an eye-opener for me - it would seem it's more the personality of politicians and the need to win at all and any costs is the key, not so much a difference in the way the country should be run. I would have thought that race would have been civil, instead, the opposite!
Food for much though, for me, anyway.