With two days left before the election on Tuesday, today’s rain creates both angst and relief.  The worries are due to the desire to use every minute of daylight to walk precincts and meet voters–and we’ve been forced to sit out the game and watch.  Yesterday, everyone was out in force.  I walked three different precincts and found literature for Susan Hoffman, Tom Moore, Bridget Newton, and Piotr Gajewski on the doors I visited and when I stopped by Carl Henn’s house during my swing through Hungerford, he was out campaigning.  I’m sure everyone else was as well.  Today offered the last weekend day to campaign, so the incessant rain will cause some anxiety.

Most people don’t realize that if you’re campaigning seriously, you’re working on the campaign non-stop for at least two months.   The usual household responsibilities (shopping, laundry, cleaning, yardwork, repairs) and family activities (sports, recreation, visits, calls, meals, walks) become a lower priority so you can walk precincts, attend forums, meet voters, develop strategy, thank donors, prepare mailings, complete campaign finance reports, manage yard signs, and respond to questions (Mark Pierzchala has fielded over 75 questions!).  Your family and friends have to tolerate these two months of campaigning as well, especially the last week of the election as every candidate is pushing to attract the last undecided voter (I received five postcards from candidates in the mail yesterday!) and their moods swing wildly from, “People really support my ideas and I’m going to do much better” to “Yikes, no one seems to know my name and I’m going to come in embarrassingly near the bottom”.

But today’s rain also is causing some relief because you really can’t walk precincts (and probably relief to many voters as well).  You can try, but after a half-hour the literature in your hands will be soaked and you’ll look like a wet rat (and who wants to vote for someone that looks like a wet rat?).  So for a few hours, our feet are getting some rest, we’re reconnecting with our families and friends, and we can do the laundry and clean-up around the house–but we’re all hoping for good weather tomorrow!