So Halloween is over and now the real carnage can begin---the last ditch efforts in the run up to the election.

I will tell you proudly that I value my ability to take part in a democratic government like a person who has the privilege should. Watch the news, the real news (one that talks about other places in the world in addition to Washington D.C. and Hollywood) and you'll see that this experiment in a democratic republic is still a very strange and coveted concept for a whole lot of people on this big ball of mud. Getting out the vote is something I'm passionate about, but I do feel like it would be a lot easier to trumpet that horn if the people running gave us better motivations to work with.

So for the record, let me state here on the Internet where it might get picked up by some automated text search program run by some political action organization scouring blogs to find commentary on the political process and aggregate the data in an attempt to try and get the pulse of the American people (whew, breath out, breath in) that here are my votes for Candidate Behavior reform! I am one of those coveted registered independents, so listen up politicos:

1. Don't call me at my house. In the evening I'm putting my kids to bed, spending the few precious hours a day that I get to actually be with them being with them and quite frankly I'd rather talk to them than to your well meaning, good natured campaignster. If you really believe in family values like everyone one across every party claims to, then let me spend my family time WITH MY FAMILY.

2. Don't mail me stuff. Contributing to deforestation by barraging me with super sized postcards and newsletters I'm not going to read anyway is not helping your cause. I'd rather see that paper in underfunded classrooms than adorned with your smiling mug as it floats into my trash can (contributing to the landfill problem, by the way). And believe me, the mental association starting back at me from my mailbox where your mail is seen hob-nobbing with the mail from the credit card companies is not lost. It feels ominously like a painful foreshadowing. And not in a way that sways my vote.

3. Mind your manners with your T.V. ads. It's been said a hundred times, in a hundred ways, so here's 101. Watching you badmouth other candidates does not endear me to you. In fact, the effect is quite the opposite. I don't choose to spend my time hanging with people filled with venom who tear others down (sucking the life out of me in the process) so it doesn't make me want to spend my effort on you when you do it. We have rules in our house so that our kids don't learn to behave like that. In fact, if they are caught giving a Put Down, even in jest, my wife has a policy of making them immediately stop and apologize to that person and then pay them a compliment---what she termed "Giving them a Push Up". So as far as political Push Ups go, you're long overdue---get down and give me 20, soldier. You want an effective t.v. ad, ask Apple who came up with the iPod ads. They seem to have gotten them a little traction in thier efforts and entertained me for 30 seconds to boot.

I look forward to the day when we'll have more than two parties actually having a chance in elections. Right now if you vote for the "other" party (whatever party that may be), you'll be labeled as wrong by the opposite side. But if you vote for a third party, you're labeled as loony by both "other" parties. I just want to stand up and do a Regan scream at D.C., "Washington! Tear that Wall Down!"

I look forward to the next Presidental election. By my estimation the first one not featuring an incumbent since near the turn of the previous century. Could be anybodies game. Should be quite exciting.

I know that candidates need to get the word out. I know that they face an uphill battle. But it concerns me that the best they can come up with with is being annoying to try and gain my favor. And I'm someone who tries to stay aware and involved in our nations politics---I'm the one wearing my "I Voted Today" sticker loud and proud! The approaches you are using, Candidate X, don't work with the telemarketers, they don't work for the credit card companies and car dealerships, why do they think they will work for you? This concerns me because I have to wonder, if you can't be any more creative than this in your campaign, how can I trust you to be truly creative with the really hard, important problems ---like running a country?