well... i'll share with the forum what i've found so far... and perhaps someone could share some thoughts and ideas of how to make this work further

Here is what works: Using Firebug i was able to grab DNN's menu id for 5th top level Root Node which was
<span id="dnn_dnnNAV_ctldnnNAVctr78" class=" mi mi5 id78 root">

So what i did was create a style as follows
#dnn_dnnNAV_ctldnnNAVctr78 {
     background-color: #F00;
}
AND THE ABOVE WORKED!!!!! but wait... hold the excitement..

Next i needed the mouse over or the a:hover to work so i did the following
#dnn_dnnNAV_ctldnnNAVctr78 a:hover{
    background-color:#0F0;
}
AND THE LINK HOVER FAILED!!!...

So i was able to set the background color specifically for Root DNN menu item number 5 but the link hover style failed... not sure what i try next to get the LINK HOVER to work...

I'm getting close to a solution but If anyone has any ideas.. please suggest them.

I think it's a dangerous practise to style elements based on the generated id.

I think the first idea - that class='mi mi5 id78 root' would be targeted by

.mi mi5 id78 root {
background-color: #F00;
font-size:18px;
}

is wrong. This looks to be based on an idea that class='mi mi5 id78 root' specifies ONE class name containing spaces. It does not. It specifies that the element has all four named classes.

I've never tried it, but I think the CSS selector should be

.mi.mi5.id78.root {
background-color: #F00;
font-size:18px;
}

I believe that specifies elements having class mi AND class mi5 AND ...

Leave the spaces out because...

.mi .mi5 .id78 .root {
background-color: #F00;
font-size:18px;
}

I believe specifies elements having class root WITHIN an element having class id78 WITHIN ...

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Best wishes,
- Richard
Agile Development Consultant, Practitioner, and Trainer
www.dynamisys.co.uk