Basically that was what I did during the recent Barber-Kelly conflict. I hesitate to dignify those “sign and sound-bite” engagements with the name debates, and I found that I didn’t really have anything to add to the steaming comment threads.

We’re not talking the Lincoln-Douglas debates here, are we? As a registered Independent I received more glossy campaign pieces from the Republican Party than I did from the Democrats but all of them, regardless of party, appealed to what the senders took to be my hidden political prejudices.

The theme was always “be afraid, be very afraid, and vote for our candidate.” In the end I voted for the guy I would have voted for if there hadn’t been any signs or sound-bites. What a waste of money.

Now, of course, we’re going to go through it all again—party primaries and a general election—  this time with Congressman Barber and presumed candidate Martha McSally. It’s going to be a tougher campaign all around because it’s a presidential year, but I doubt it will be any more informative.