Technically, primary voting for Tennesseans who were certain of their choice for candidates in the upcoming presidential election ended on February 5th, following a healthy supply of ads on TV for each candidate. Countless voters had show up at the polls and participated, electing various hopefuls in local offices, as well as presidential candidates. Out of that amount of voters, I have heard, was a steady stream of students who attended our area high schools. However, a few of us were not able to do our part, due to the fact that 1) we're not eighteen years old yet, or 2) we haven't made up our minds yet. For the victims of both, I leave you these tips to go by in the 2008 election.

Tips to consider while looking for a candidate:

1) Do not trust rumors and hearsay spread on the Internet about any candidate. You have absolutely no idea of this being true, so don't assume the worst. Be sure that if you do look up information about a candidate, go to a trusted website, like the New York TIMES, for instance.

2) Act your age, not your shoe size. Think of the 2008 election as a major responsibility in your life in which you must consider what role your favorite candidate has in our country. As a young adult, you must be mature enough to make your own decisions. If not, you don't deserve to vote at all.

3) Tread your own path. When it comes to elections, many people adopt the family or group strategy with voting. Typically, this means that someone will choose a candidate based on what political affiliation their family, friends, or significant other is. Out of all these tips, I will strongly advise you not to fall into this herd, simply because you will lose the chance of making your OWN decisions. Not everyone is the same when it comes to their values, and that's why this strategy always fails from generation to generation. For instance, you may be pro-life and your parents may be pro-choice. Candidate A favors abortion, Candidate B favors outlawing it. Since your parents are pro-choice, they will vote for Candidate A; however, you feel that Candidate B is the best choice. What's a person to do? Well, for one thing, you need to do more research on both candidates before reaching a legitimate decision. An election is not about hurting anyone's feelings, so it pays to use your own judgment, not Mom and Dad's.

4) Rhymes with WHAT? This can easily be tied in to tip #2 for many reasons. One, do not assume that a certain candidate is a potential threat to our country just because his last name rhymes with "Osama". Osama was a really, really mean guy, but as for the guy whose name rhymes with Osama, you don't know his real character. Just because a candidate's name sounds questionable doesn't mean you have the right to set a specific stereotype to them. It's a little childish on your part to assume so, and being shallow-minded will not get you far in life, trust me. Two, do not play the "ewwwww...cooties!" card when selecting a candidate. Yes, we all know this for a fact: Hillary Clinton is a woman. A woman, for crying out loud! I myself have heard people say that they wouldn't vote for her due to the fact of her gender. This isn't fair to her or to any woman. After all, women help choose presidents, regardless of the candidate's gender. As in the name issue, you shouldn't assume that because a candidate is a woman, she would be too soft or moody for the job. This lesson was learned many years ago, during a golden age when Xena ruled the TV...

5) Keep up on your debates. Political analysts always stress this to our nation's voters. Keeping up to date on presidential debates is essential to the decision-making process. Although they can be a bit boring, you must watch. (Note: you can watch debates on YouTube, your local TV or cable stations, or on Podcast.) When watching, ask yourself these questions: Do I trust this person to handle our country during a certain situation? Does this candidate have the same values that I do? What issues are they willing to address, and what, to me, is the most important? Finding the answer to these questions will prove to be the key to choosing.

And if I don't see you sooner, see you later!