I would never claim to be a true political junkie (certainly not while I know people who have probably been approached by major dictionaries to book photo shoots so proper art could be acquired for future editions), but I wallow in election cycle news to enough of a degree that friends have been surprised that, as of yet, I have no particular candidate preferences for the 2008 presidential election. Beyond having a strong aversion to Mitt Romney and his magic glasses, I wasn't prepared to make any strong statement of personal preference. My pal Dave wouldn't believe me at all when I told him months ago, thinking I was pulling some sort of unfunny prank on him by declaring disinterest. For one thing, the cycle started so damned early this time that I can only speculate on the level of fatigue that will be felt by even the heartiest soul who chose to follow from the first debate to the wee hours of next year's election night. There must be something unhealthy about prolonged exposure to all those hollow words.

Today, for whatever reason, I finally started to feel something tip inside me and my antsy patrolling of Websites for relevant political news began. Maybe it was Congress finally--finally!--having the nerve to throw one of Smuggy McBombsalot's vetoes back in his lumpy clay face. Maybe it was the unexpected reminder that there are always plenty of wack-jobs out there theoretically vying for the highest office in the land. Maybe it as simple as the calendar being in a more reasonable place to begin paying attention. Regardless, I think I may have finally crossed to a point where I'll start giving various browsers and cable channels some heavy-duty usage for awhile.