They don't want me

This is the only political post you will get from me.

First a PSA

I don't care who you vote for, just vote. Even if you don't care for either of the guys running for President, vote. There are many more offices & local legislation on the ballot, not just the President. Your state representative is being chosen, your senator might be up, your governor, your local mayor, sheriff, council member, your local rep to the state legislature, local laws & bonds you might have only heard about in passing could be on that ballot. Don't pass up your chance to enact law or elect actual lawmakers simply because you are unhappy with the executive branch options. Don't fill in that option if you don't like either of them. The ballot is not a test. It's ok to leave that one blank. The rest of your votes still count & will have a far greater immediate effect on your life personally.

That's the PSA

Now, on to me & how I am feeling unwanted & unloved, yet oddly pleased.

I live in a 'battleground' state. I am a registered independent voter. So is DH. We are middle class folks, married, with kids. We are the people who will swing the vote. You'd think we'd be in demand. You'd think we'd be inundated with party specific mail & party specific phone calls. You'd think everyone on both sides would be trying to convince us they are our last best hope and would be caging for our vote, promising tax cuts and showcasing the horror that will descend upon us should the other guy win .

But no.  Only one side is.

The Republicans are very interested in us. Not just in an NRA affiliated way either. They mail me personally as often as they mail DH, and not just about guns. I get letters about the economy, taxes, abortion, the environment and the war. Every candidate they have running for any office we can vote for has sent us something. I have information and talking points on the Republican platform out the wazoo. I could start a decent bonfire with all the mailers they have sent me. Several trees have died just so I could have bullet pointed information. We have received so many phone calls from their election groups that I am starting feel stalked. I don't know if you can get a restraining order against the entire Republican party but I'm starting to think I might need to look into it.

Perhaps though they are just making up for the neglect of the Democrats.

I haven't heard one word from anyone even vaguely associated with any Democrat running for office, except on blogs. Nothing directed to me personally. They don't write. They never call. Leaving me sit and stare at the phone & wonder if they like me. I don't even know who the Democrat is who running against our current Republican House Representative or for state legislature. That is how little I have heard from them. Not even a mailer listing their candidates running for office in my state.

I'm not sure if they just haven't gotten around to it yet, or if they assume since I live in a red county it is pointless to bother me. (There are 14 McCain posters and one Obama poster in a 5 mile radius of my house) Maybe they think I'm already going to vote for them. Maybe they think they don't need me. Possibly they have learned that I am married to a small government loving, fiscally conservative, socially liberal, agnostic Libertarian gun nut.  Or that I have said on several forums that I am probably going to vote for Bob Barr. Maybe they wrote us off as a waste of postage & phone time. Points to them in that case for sound fiscal planning.

I'm not sure if this neglect is a pro or a con. On the one hand it is nice to know you are wanted. So I am a tad bit irritated the Democrats don't want me. If I was the sort of person to vote on a whim, or was dithering, their neglect to even send me a list of their candidates could push me to the Republicans, who very obviously do want me. After all, I agree with many of their stated goals

On the other hand I find political advertisements, pamphlets and snappy sound bites very annoying. They are all buzz words with no actual action plan. There simply is not enough time or space in mailers and prerecorded phone calls to include much substance. So I am a tad bit irritated with the Republicans for their incessant badgering. If I was the sort of person to vote on a whim, or was dithering, I might just be annoyed enough to vote Democrat because they have had the decency not to bother me. After all, I agree with many of their stated goals.

I mostly just wonder why I have been overlooked by the Democrats. I voted in the Democratic primary, so it isn't as if they don't have my name & address. Maybe if I had kids who played soccer....