The analysis compares Fundamentals, Standard, and Combined models of voting choice. The Fundamentals model shows strong effects of proximity and valence candidate differentials independent of voter demographic characteristics. The Standard model emphasizes party identification, presidential approval, and candidate resource differentials linked to incumbency and candidate spending. The Combined model adds the proximity and valence differentials to the standard model. Voter awareness of opposing candidates' ideological positions is not a condition for proximity voting, although awareness of party positions does appear to be a necessary condition. Party identification has a strong effect, although it is not necessarily or primarily a distorting factor relative to the Proximity Rule. Although voter awareness of candidates' ideological positions is not a necessary condition for proximity voting, among voters who place the ideological positions of candidates there is remarkable evidence of their ability to discern candidate positions independent of partisan bias and their perceptions of party ideological positions.