It's almost midterm election time, or at least so I gather by the forests-worth of trees that have been appearing in my mailbox in the form of campaign postcards.

Midterm elections usually see a lower turnout than presidential elections, and in general voters are usually less sure who they will vote for unless they vote straight ticket for their party. With this in mind, I find it odd that I receive so many "don't vote for so-and-so" ads that don't even bother to tout the merits of their own candidate.

This strategy makes sense in a presidential race, where "don't vote for Bush" clearly means I should be voting for whatever insipid milquetoast the Democratic party seems to trot out these days. But this only works when I know said milquetoast's name. In the local elections, I can't even keep straight what position most of the candidates are running for, never mind who their opponents are. So if I see "Don't vote for Joe Smith, he eats kittens", I may forget about the kittens when I'm looking at my ballot and just remember Joe Smith.

I have 3 major issues that I feel very strongly about, and I don't see any candidates rushing to pronounce themselves on my side in any of them: road conditions in Missouri, smoking, and alternative fuels. If I ever got a postcard that said "Vote for me and I'll fix Missouri's potholes and metal plates, ban smoking indoors in public places, and give unlimited funding to anyone researching alternative fuels that make sense long-term", I would vote for them even if they *did* eat kittens.