For the first time in my life I’m living in a battleground state during an election and I have to say that I’m kind of enjoying it. You think there’s something wrong with me don’t you?

You’re probably right.  I’m picking up the phone when the caller ID says “unknown,” hoping that its someone doing a poll on the election.  I was actually disappointed when we got a call and the ID said something about polling in it and the phone disconnected when I picked it up.  Yes, I know the poli. sci. geek is rearing its head big time, but its actually kind of nice being in a state where my vote is actually going to matter.

Growing up in the south, my vote didn’t really matter.  I did my civic duty and cast my vote anyway, but almost every time it really didn’t matter.  The winner was usually known long before election day, particularly when it came to the president.

This year, Virginia has become one of the most hotly contested states in the election putting me smack dab in the middle of a virtual tidal wave of political advertising, calls, and activists coming around talking up their candidates and getting out the vote.

The ads haven’t bothered me yet.  Thank you wannabe TiVo (cable company DVR).  I skip through pretty much all of the adds, though I do see them while eating breakfast in the morning and some of them are kind of funny.  They’re not trying to be, but they are.  One I recently saw is a good example.  Just a guy talking to the camera, saying that he won’t vote for Obama b/c he’s a small business owner and Obama wants to raise his taxes and doesn’t know what its like to run a small business.  This is funny to me b/c all the non-partisan stuff I’ve seen is that Obama’s tax plan will lower taxes for most people.  Also, logic would follow that this guy is going to vote for McCain b/c he feels like McCain knows what its like to run a small business…except that he doesn’t as far as I know so maybe this guy is going to vote for Joe the Plumber.  For full disclosure, this was a third party add and wasn’t related to McCain at all.

The other fun thing is the calls.  I should tell you guys that Michelle Obama is hoping that her and Barack can be BFFs with Cris and I.  She called and left a really long message saying something about voting for her husband, but I’m sure she knew that Cris and I are East Coasters with advanced degrees that like to listen to NPR and she’s hoping that we’ll invite the two of them over for some cheese and wine.  I used to wonder who actually listened to the entirety of robo calls, and then realized dorks like me do.

So I guess we’re about two weeks out and the election hasn’t driven me completely crazy yet.  I have definitely gotten to the point a couple of times where I was getting burnt out, but it just seems like this is a really, really big election.  I saw one commenter say it always feels like the current election is the biggest at the time, but I really think this one is going to be remembered for a while.  The next couple of weeks should be interesting.