Switch Menu - a:hover not responding when converted to list format

[nc78]

Hi,

I am trying to convert the switch menu to a list so that when I use the a:hover it changes the color of the complete row not just the background of the linked text. I thought this should be relatively straightforward but I can't get the a:hover to respond. When I apply a class directly to the <li> tag, the link becomes hidden.

I am open to suggestions on how to achieve my results by not listing the links in <li> tags (I do not want to use images).

This is the original block of code:

<div class="menutitle" onclick="SwitchMenu('sub3')">
       Feature Columns
</div>
<span class="submenu" id="sub3">
       <a href="#">Letter from Latin America</a><br>
       <a href="#">Newt Utopia</a><br>
       <a href="#">Insider Talking</a><br>
       <a href="#">Stock Round-Up</a><br>
       <a href="#">Standard & Poor's</a><br>
</span>

I am looking to do something along the lines of:

<div class="menutitle" onclick="SwitchMenu('sub3')">Feature Columns</div>   
   <span class="submenu" id="sub3">
      <ul>	
          <li><a href="#">Letter from Latin America</a></li>
          <li><a href="#">Newt Utopia</a></li>
          <li><a href="#">Insider Talking</a></li>
      </ul>	
   </span>

CSS

.menutitle {
position:relative;
list-style: none;
cursor:pointer;
padding: 2px;
background-color:#555;
color:#ffffff;
font-size:.8ems;
font-weight:bold;
/*/*/border-bottom:1px solid #777;/* */
}

.submenu {
margin-bottom: 0;
background-color:#eee;
color:#555;
}
.submenu ul, {
margin-bottom: 0;
color:#555;
}
.submenu li {
margin-bottom: 0;
color:#555;
}
.submenu li a{
color:#555;
text-decoration:none;
width:145px;
display:block;
height:1%;
}
.submenu li a:hover{
background-color: #b22222;
color: #FFFFFF;
width:145px;
}
.submenu li a:active{
background-color: #b22222;
color: #FFFFFF;
width:145px;
}
.submenu li a:visited{
background-color: #b22222;
color: #FFFFFF;
width:145px;
}

[nc78]

I have resolved the issue - I had the menu residing in a nested div tag that had css overriding the switch menu's css - duh