Voting For Candidates or Party?

My democrat friends try to separate their support for local candidates from their support of the party as a whole. They tell me that the person they vote for is pro-life; pro-marriage; pro-guns, etc. That is probably true. The democratic candidate for the state senate from the Jackson area says he supports all these things (he sounds a lot like the republican candidate). Problem is that his party -- the democratic party -- as a whole is against the things he claims to support.

Gary Bauer made a statement recently with which I agree. He said a vote for a democratic candidate is a vote for that party's values. Likewise a vote for a republican candidate is an endorsement of the party's values.

As I've pointed out before, I believe that the republican party more closely represents what I believe as a Christian. Neither party is perfect. And until the democratic party changes some planks in its platform (i.e. pro-choice, homosexual agenda, etc.) I don't see how a born again Christian can say their vote for a local democratic candidate isn't an endorsement of the national party.

Jerome