yytz – such a great post! and you are so right about the politics hounds. Personally it doesn’t hold my interest, I don’t even know who many of the players are.
What you said we do for voting can be to think we know who is best, or think we know who is best, to the best of our knowledge. I think a yid should always add that drop of humility. Know that there is more to any story, there is always more to a person, and that only Hashem is all knowing. If you research something well, be proud. But drawing conclusions from facts without the small addition of “I really believe” or “it seems to me” is, in my opinion, not the proper display of anivus.