If weeding is the one thing you don't ever want to do....by all means try the straw method. In Iowa you could probably use the temperature reducing measure it provides. Here in the PNW....I need all the sun light I can get to warm up the ground, therefore I wouldn't mulch it with straw until later as the plants emerge. We are in the pattern of 40 F nights and 50 F days. with rain rain rain.
I am of the mind to suggest anyone doing the straw method to allow two different plots to help you make up your mind about using straw or not...one with and one without. I prefer alfalfa hay to straw in order to provide a 'green tea' fertilizing but that kind of hay may be expensive unless you have a farmer friend with some old hay sitting around.
Trenching the potato sets and covering with soil first is my pref...followed by the hay/straw alternating with soil and again and again as the season progresses.
Here are some links found by searching for GROWING POTATOES IN STRAW.
http://www.colostate.edu/Dept/CoopEx...t/potatoes.htm
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/...028617.html?11
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/vege...s-in-straw.htm
http://thegardenersrake.com/straw-ba...ening-potatoes
http://www.chirotoons.com/potatoes.html