I don’t know about you, but I have reached the burnout stage of this election. If I never hear another commercial with the tagline: “I’m _______ and I approve this message,” then life would be pretty good.

There’s an excellent chance that I’m preaching to the choir here, right? And yet, somewhere, in some “war room,” there’s a strategist saying: “We need to make more robo calls!”

Is your answering machine filled with messages from both presidential campaigns? Ours would be except that the brilliant invention known as Caller ID has allowed me to intercept these calls and hang up on them before they get started.

Seriously, who is answering the calls that come from this phone number: 000-000-0000? And my favorite is when that number is paired with the name “O” above it. “Look honey! Oprah’s calling!”

I’m not sure who either campaign thinks they are reaching, but it’s nobody who has paid taxes in this decade. Maybe there’s some poor unsuspecting old school fellow (still watching TV with an analog signal no doubt) who picks up his rotary dial phone and is flattered that John McCain or Barack Obama took time from their campaign to call him.

Just because it’s so popular, we’ll call this guy Joe. Do you think at the end of that call, Joe tries to speak to the candidates and is offended that they ignore his questions and hang up on him? No, I don’t either. Joe doesn’t exist and you can’t help but wonder how much both campaigns would save themselves in dollars and us in annoyance if they suspended that campaign tactic.

Honestly, neither candidate will sway me with their attack ads, their scary mailers (which go right into my handy recycling bin) or their incessant calls. Unlike some of my friends and relatives, I’m not reading the endless stream of rumors about both candidates. I’m not parked in front of my TV watching The Situation Room. I’m on Facebook but I did not “become a fan” of either candidate. At cocktail parties I avoid any and all political discussions.

Yes, that’s right. THIS voter has gone rogue. I’m unreachable and I’m thinking for myself. You can try to throw your mud and your accusations and your frightening worst-case scenarios at me but it’s not going to stick. Somehow, some way, without any help from the mainstream or underground or digital media, I’m going to try and make a thoughtful, intelligent choice.

And then on November 4^th, I’m going to stand in line with my neighbors and do the most amazing thing. I’m going to vote. Join me, won’t you?

I have always been a Caller ID enthusiast. Over the years, it has saved me from countless telemarketers, fundraisers and sometimes an overzealous relative or two. I tend to use Caller ID aggressively and often. I like to get my money’s worth.

For me, Caller ID is most valuable prior to an election. Today alone, we’ve received four pre-voting calls – from Jill Didier, two from Scott Walker and one other that I can’t identify because I cut off the recording before it finished. It’s late afternoon, I expect a whole bunch more around dinnertime.

What baffles me about these calls is that they are just recordings, every single one of them. I just have one question: Who listens to these recordings in their entirety? Do politicians really think that little of us? I’d be curious to know how much it costs them to record and then “distribute” these calls. Regardless of who I am voting for, I refuse to sit on the phone and listen to a machine talk to me. If I wanted to do that, I'd call my insurance company...or Time Warner.

Despite the fact that I ignore, hang up on and delete these calls, I fully expect them to continue beyond tomorrow’s big vote. After all, come November, we have a really big vote happening. I’m sure my phone will be fielding calls from some heavy hitters around then.

In the meantime, I’ll just sit here and enjoy the benefits of telephone technology. Oops, gotta run. My phone is ringing. Never mind, it’s just the “Friends of Scott Walker.”