The New Hampshire political scene does get the blood flowing, but not always in a good way......
For those of you who are political junkies, I'm sure you'd love being part of what goes on here in New Hampshire during every election campaign.
When my parents lived here, my dad was stationed at Pease Air Force Base here in Portsmouth, my mom just loved being able to actually meet, touch and talk with any of the presidential candidates she wanted to meet. And she really did take advantage of meeting every one of them that she could while they lived here!
Being the home of the "First in the Nation Primary", we get to see all the candidates up front and in person. We can see them, touch them, hear them just about everywhere we go almost from the moment the campaigning begins. And as we get closer to the primaries, you can't help but literally run into candidates of both parties all over the state in all of our cities and towns, large and small. And don't forget all the media trailing them to get whatever scoop, missteps, mistakes, etc. any of them make.
Along with all that political junkie fun comes the downside of all this upfront and in-person campaigning. My phone does not stop ringing most nights from the time I finally get home from my last appointments until after 9pm. Invariably, the first phone call comes in within minutes of getting my jacket off, and before I have time to do anything else. I spend enough time on the phone during the day while I'm working. I really don't relish the phone ringing constantly once I do finally make it home.
And don't even get me started on dinnertime....
Last night, as I was cooking dinner for us, naturally my phone began ringing. One of the calls I answered was from a man calling from the John Edwards campaign. He actually got a little further with me on the phone than anyone else has thus far. First, I was surprised it was a real person that actually called and not some computer that would patch the call to a human after I answered, and nor was it one of those really stupid prerecorded messages from one of the candidates. This real man started asking me questions, and I was actually politely answering them. Then I realized he was eating while he was trying to engage me on the phone. How rude is that?!?!? And does that man really think that conversation, WITH FOOD IN HIS MOUTH, is going to get me to vote for his candidate??
HELLO CANDIDATES - if you're going to have people annoy the heck of many of us with these incessant phone calls, at least give them some etiquette rules to employ while on the phone!! Obnoxious to say the least!
Being a registered Independent, I get it all from both sides of the aisle!
My mailbox is crammed full of brochures, flyers, postcards, etc. This last week has caused me to almost need a cart to get my mail to the house, there's so much campaign stuff crammed into my mailbox. And don't forget the flyers and door hangers that get brought up my driveway and attached to my doors and doorknobs. Some of those end up scattered around the yard - and that really doesn't make me happy. Litterbugs!
My hope in writing this is that candidates, present and future, will know that annoying people continually on the phone, sending out so much mailed junk that I can't carry all of it sometimes, and leaving stuff that litters up my yard WILL NOT get me to vote for you. So much money is spent on these kinds of 'campaign tactics', and so much of it is just purely wasted.
And those commercials - no commercial in the world will convince me to vote for you, not when it seems most of what gets said in any of those commercials isn't even half true. No amount of signs plastered all over the landscape will make me vote for you, and neither will any of those people flagging down motorists at stoplights, at crosswalks downtown, or anywhere else. Does that really work with anyone??
Give me enough credit to do my own research to decide who's going to get my ONE precious vote.
I'm sure all the political junkies who thrive on this kind of stuff will think I've just committed heresy. Sorry if I've offended you, but all of this stuff offends me and I'm really looking forward to all of it stopping......until the real election in November, when I know this stuff will begin anew to a lesser degree.
Hmmm, who am I going to vote for???? Let's see, which candidate has annoyed me THE LEAST............
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Coast to Coast
Portsmouth NH
ann@anncummings.com
888-349-5678 x 3839
Servicing the Coastal Areas of NH & Southern Maine 
~~ Donkey and Elephant pictures from flickr ~~
Comments(37)