No, Kendall. I'm just sick and tired of big-D Democrats and big-R Republicans (and big-L Libertarians and big-C Communists and big-S Socialists and...).

I will vote for the person, not the party. Always have, even when I lived in Illinois, troublesome though that could be.

I grew up poor, but we weren't allowed to know it. Just that the money wasn't there for a lot of things, and my mother would put off getting new glasses if her kids needed them. Looking back, I now know why she so often ate as little as she did.

We went through college courtesy of the Illinois National Guard, the GI Bill (such as it was for Vietnam Era vets), National Defense Student Loans, Work-Study, and even a small grant (and I mean SMALL). Everyone I know who had a student loan paid it back in full, too.

Now I'm making more money that I ever thought I would and I only hope that I'm worth it. And I'm worried about the kids coming up -- if they'll have the opportunities I did for education. I'm concerned about the national debt, which is growing at an alarming rate and which we do NOT "owe to ourselves" any more -- and how, when the government is cutting its income by lowering taxes, it will ever be repaid. I see young families around here buying multi-hundred-thousand-dollar houses and only paying the interest on the loan, and wonder what will happen when times get bad again.

It seems to me that both parties are ignoring some serious problems while tossing slime back and forth. Both seem to have lost sight of the fact that "all politics is local" and no longer work for the community, however large or small.

A 79 year old retired railroad worker told me Saturday that he thinks that the Democrats will "roar back" in this years elections. Me, I'd rather a bunch of people who would work for the community, regardless of party, would get into power.

If John Kerry ran against John McCain, I'd vote for McCain. If, on the other hand, BOB KerrEy ran against John McCain, well, I'd have a real problem....