A little tech geek political humor....

[C5Nate]

OK, I guess you had to be there and I know everyone wont get it, but I 'ed

STP elects a root switch in a manner not unlike a political election. The process begins with all switches claiming to be the root by sending Hello BPDUs listing their own bridge ID as the root bridge ID. If a switch hears a Hello that lists a better (lower) bridge ID—called a Superior Hello—that switch stops advertising itself as root and starts forwarding the superior Hello. The Hello sent by the better switch lists the better switch’s bridge ID as the root. It works like a political race in which a less-popular candidate gives up and leaves the race, throwing her support behind another candidate. Eventually everyone agrees which Root bridge ID The bridge ID of the bridge/switch that the sender of this Hello currently believes to be the root switch Sender’s bridge ID The bridge ID of the bridge/switch sending this Hello BPDU Cost to reach root The STP cost between this switch and the current root Timer values on the root switch Includes the Hello timer, MaxAge timer, and Forward Delay timer. Spanning Tree Protocol switch has the best (lowest) bridge ID, and everyone supports the elected switch—which is where the political race analogy falls apart.

Wendell has a sense of humor.

[mrvette]

BUT the switch that raises the most CAIN will be selected to boss the rest of the inoperative switches.....