As we wake up today, the day after the primary election, for everyone there will be feelings of sadness and of joy, of relief and of grief. Few voters will have voted for every winning candidate. To those that have, my advice is for you to run out and buy a lottery ticket!

For now at least the automated phone calls have stopped coming. Our mailboxes are a lot less full. All those signs will be cleared away.

I admire a candidate who makes the phone calls themselves. That shows a real level of committment, although I bet they got many complaints about all of those automated calls from the others. From Amos to Guilliani, Harrell to Zell. I even got one from a baseball player. Personally I think a baseball player should stick to their God-given talent, but I think that this rule can also be applied to Hollywood actors. Locally one candidate even made an automated call on a Sunday. Is Sunday not sacred from this activity?

How many did we get of those glossy mailers, candidate wife letters and letters from a neighbor telling you about a candidate? Either informational, positive or negative. This year has to be the most negative campaign primary in recent years. Did Ralph Reed really eat a live hamster on stage in church one Sunday? Will we be getting our first husband letter in 2008 presidential race? Locally one campaign 'plunged' to new lows and in another someone is spending an awful lot of money to stay in office, even though I think they are hosed.

The sign wars began a long time ago. One day an area would have one sign, the next day sixteen, they would just breed like rabbits. Signs would be removed, sometimes rightfully so by the county or the property owner, sometimes maliciously. Each time a sign is removed for whatever reason, the opposition is immediately blamed.

Some candidates take things personally and losing candidates usually disappear from the political spectrum not to be seen again. Is this burnout, embarassment or just having received the lack of power that they sought? You wonder what they were in it for to begin with. If you have trouble getting your message out, or the people do not like it as much as the other candidate, do not take it personally.

The spouses of candidates take in every negative word, bad look and ill tone of voice towards their spouse and in particular those on the losing end scorn everyone that volunteered for the winner. Bitterness lingers longer than victory. Even in cases where the winner did not go negative to win. Sometimes those on the same team one election are on opposing teams the next time.

For now we know there will be run-offs in a few weeks, that is certain. But guys, can we please cool it with the calls, mailers and signs, at least for one week?

Please.