The Problem With Contested Elections…

More on the special election in Massachusetts in due course. But Dan Drezner makes a good case for the ghastliness of politics:

For those readers who have never had the privilege of living in a battleground state, let me explain what the experience is like.  Every other television commercial is about the campaign.  Day after day, the race dominates the front page of the newspaper.  Your mailbox is stuffed with fliers for or against one of the candidates.  Your friends and neighbors talk about the campaign — and who you support can affect your friendships.  You can’t escape the race.  All of this would be tolerable if it were not for two things.  First, the phone calls.  Over this weekend, by my count, we have received ten phone calls asking us to vote for or against someone, and then a few phone calls on top of that polling us about our voting intentions […] Since these inquiries can’t be put on the Do Not Call list, the phone will not stop ringing.