Bruce Oppenheimer

While campaigning in early April, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., often pointed out that babies born in February 2007, when he announced his run for president, now are walking and talking.

Those toddlers, now 16 months old, aren’t old enough to complain about the increasingly heated tone of the campaign nor will they punch the remote to change the TV channel.

Their parents and grandparents can, and they do.

“I’m just sick of the whole thing,” said Beverly Stephens, 73, of Hixson.

Mrs. Stephens’ husband, Sidney Stephens, 75, said he tries to avoid the campaigning, the advertising and the punditry.

“It’s just the same thing over and over,” he said. “If it comes on, I change the channel.”

And presidential campaigning isn’t all that voters in Hamilton County will be seeing over the coming months.

An election for the sheriff’s seat vacated by former Sheriff Billy Long is set for Aug. 7, and elections for U.S. Congress and the Tennessee General Assembly will be in November. Soon after, the 2009 races for Chattanooga mayor and City Council will heat up.

While there is a portion of the public that is “undoubtedly bored” with the campaigning, said Bruce Oppenheimer, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University, others can’t get enough.

“You don’t have a homogeneous public in terms of political interest,” he said. “There’s certainly an attentive portion that doesn’t seem burned out at all.”

But poll data show that, nationally, voters are less satisfied with the political process and the candidates than they were a few months ago.

Almost 15 percent more of adults surveyed found U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., unfavorable in mid-April than did in mid-January, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. About 10 percent more found U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Obama less favorable than in January.

According to data from the National Annenberg Election Survey, satisfaction with the primary process decreased among Democrats from 33 percent in January to 22 percent in March. Among Republicans, satisfaction decreased from 45 percent to 35 percent.

Rebecca Hargrove, 19, a student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said she is fed up with candidates embellishing stories.

“I just get tired of them trying to cover for stories that aren’t true,” she said.

Still, voter turnout for the primaries has been high, noted UTC political science professor Bob Swansbrough.

“At least on the Democratic side, the contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has led to greater interest and higher turnout,” he said.

In Tennessee’s Feb. 5 primary, nearly twice as many voters came to the polls than did in either the 2000 or 2004 primaries, according to results from the state Division of Elections. Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary drew twice as many voters as in 2000 or 2004 as well, according to election returns.

Dr. Oppenheimer noted the candidates have been raising money virtually nonstop since early 2007. He said they must be finding new donors or getting money from donors who have not yet reached contribution limits.

“That’s not the area where the fatigue’s set in,” he said.

Voters, despite the length of the campaign, have a continuing interest in issues such as the war in Iraq and the economy, Dr. Swansbrough said.

Chris Barnes, 49, an East Brainerd resident who said he plans to vote for Sen. McCain, is very interested in the war and the economy but is fed up with what he called “dirty politics.”

“It’s going to get nasty,” he said.

Mr. Barnes noted the tone of advertisements run by the North Carolina Republican Party in preparation for the state primary on Tuesday. The ads call Sen. Obama “too extreme for North Carolina,” and Sen. McCain has asked that they be pulled from the air.

Eddie C. Mills, 47, of Chattanooga, said it’s time for candidates to quit “throwing punches” and discuss issues such as veterans’ benefits.

“Let’s get to the facts,” he said.

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