Is it shorted out?

@fredflint the way iFixit works is by asking your own question. Questions that are erroneously posted as answers usually do get deleted or converted to questions.

So lets start at the beginning with your mowers issue. What model is it? What are the symptoms and what all have you checked thus far?

Thanks for setting me straight! My craftsman is model 944.607032. This morning it started no problem. I drove it about 20 feet and turned it off. When I returned 15 minutes later it would not start. Solenoid did not click. I disconnected the leads to the solenoid and measured voltage across the two disconnected wires. 11 volts. Measured battery. 12.5V. Connected solenoid directly to battery, solenoid clicked fine. Hmmm... voltage drop across something? Traced positive wire (white) from solenoid back to the cutter switch under the steering wheel. Disconnected the switch from the wiring and measured the voltage going into the switch (when turning key). 12.5V . Rigged up a jumper cable to connect to the solenoid from this connection. Solenoid works.

Thinking the switch was faulty, or at least creating a voltage drop, I put my jumper cable across the two white pins that would normally be closed by the switch. Reconnected solenoid in it's standard location. Turned key. Solenoid clicks! But starter did not even try to start... do I need to jumper the two black pins too? Tried one more time with jumper across the white pins. This time nothing, not even a click. Battery still at 12.5V . Connected solenoid directly to battery. Works fine. Re-installed solenoid. Nothing. Any ideas?

Let it sit for 3 hours then re-installed solenoid and my jumper across the switch. Started perfectly. No idea what is happening here.