Must be election year.

[Afterthoughts added in brackets, 12:20PM PST]

It's only March--and already I'm annoyed. That quaint American custom, the political TV commercial, is heard in the land. Here in Washington-the-state (SayWA), Mike McGavick, former Senatorial aide and CEO of Safeco Insurance, is the Repubican candidate for Maria Cantwell's Senate seat. His first TV commercials are already on the air. Mr. McGavick has promised a "positive" campaign. John McCain flew in last week to stand beside him. McGavick declared McCain his idea of what a Senator ought to be. Good move in Western Washington. Risky on the east side of the mountains, maybe. [And a dope-slap to right-fringe party members.]

So far, McGavick's candidate behavior is exemplary, and the money's rolling in. I'm annoyed anyway. Because, Mike McGavick's TV commercials...well, imagine yourself watching TV, submerged in the American mood of March 2006. You hear, "I don't know how you can live in this country and not be an optimist..." And, "The folks back in Washington [the Capitol] aren't bad people...being back there, they've just lost touch with the issues that concern [us]..." Rough quote--you can run the commercial for yourself on McGavick's site.

Mr. McGavick. Mike. Lame. You don't really believe that any sitting Senator, much less Maria Cantwell, is out of touch with the issues that concern us today, do you? Do you really think these TV spots are improving anything besides your already robust ego? [Don't you know the political experts are full of it? Political commercials are almost always played in the wrong key. ("Almost." I'm remembering how in-tune "Morning in America" was for Reagan.) If they've worked at all, it's to turn American politics into nonsense. "I know, let's do a stupid commercial and run it every twenty minutes."] Let me take a run at this:

Folks, I know George W. Bush has made a mess of our government and our reputation. I'm as upset about it as you are. But we've got two and a half more years to get through. Look, Maria's doing her best, but hello! She's a Democrat. In a Republican Congress. I'm a Republican. I'm a John McCain Republican. Get it? What the Senate needs right now is more John McCain Republicans. Washington state is full of smart people. It's a long time to November. Just think about it. That's all I ask.

Never mind. Nobody'd believe this either.