Here's one good thing about researching the potential Senate candidates and making your voting decision early in the year: You don't have to pay attention to the actual campaigning, which is really just a big playground fight between the opposing campaign managers and has little or nothing to do with the candidates themselves. The drawback, of course, is that you get to watch the quality of public discourse plummet to new lows during the time you're waiting to vote, and you come to the inevitable realization that elections are decided not by issues, but by manipulation of mass media. The key to victory, it seems, is to ensure that the media spends more time covering an accusation than a refutation, and lean on the average voter's lack of political knowledge.

This morning, I heard Jimmy Barrett talking about Virginia Governor Tim Kaine commenting somewhere that the term "representative democracy" doesn't apply to us anymore, since, with something like 45% voter turnout, we don't even have a majority deciding the elections. Barrett added that it was no wonder nobody votes, because if you watch the news of the Senate race in Virginia, it's hard to get excited about taking time out of one's busy schedule to vote on who's perceived as the greater racist.

Thomas Krehbiel writes The Krehbiel Strikes Back, a moderate commentary on news, media, politics, and culture.