When the election really hits home

The presidential election is still 26 days away. That's an eternity in politics ... and it means we have thousands of political ads still to digest.

But, for people like me, all the ads in the world don't mean much when you can't get answers to questions regarding personal issues.

John McCain said the other day he thinks health care is not a right in this country. He is not alone in this view. That may be fine for folks with money but if you are somebody like a friend of mine who is battling breast cancer, has a husband who can't work and a son in high school, it's a different issue. This person works in a business that pays on commissions and doesn't offer health care. So, if you work, you can pay for insurance. But if you can't work due to illness, that's a problem. Although he may not have meant it that way, McCain's answer made it sound like this: tough luck.

My friend isn't looking for a handout - just a helping hand until she can get back working. Government, after all, is supposed to be for the people. A civilized society is supposed to offer assistance when necessary.

But what you hear from a lot of folks these days is it is every man for themselves, a sort of survival of the fittest.

This morning, I filled out all the necessary information to apply for unemployment benefits. It isn't a lot of money and there is a limit to what I am eligible for. And I hope I don't get to that limit. I want to get back to work.

But the money that is out there will help us get through at the moment. And it is money that I put into the pool at one time or another. So I will accept it and try to put it to as good of use as I can. You won't be seeing me buying dinner at Manny's.

The presidential candidate who assures me he understands that government is NOT supposed to be about ideologies is the candidate who will get my vote. I don't thimk I alone in that view.

That's why I think anything about any candidate's past associations with a person he no longer deals with isn't too important. Barack Obama isn't calling William Ayers for political advice and John McCain isn't calling Charles Keating for financial advice. I want my candidate to to tell me how my economic future will be ... and whether my family will be safe in the streets. The pundits can argue about the rest of it until they're blue in the face.

But I suspect my friend isn't thinking about Ayers or Keating when discussing mammograms and chemotherapy. And I know I don't think about them when filling out a job application. It's all about priorities.