*Most effective "positive" campaign commercial: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand promising not to vote for her own pay hike.

*Most effective "negative" campaign commercial(s): U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon of Connecticut letting challenger Richard Blumental speak for himself by using clips of his lying about serving in Vietnam and fumbling his way through a question about how he'd create jobs.

*Most uncomfortable campaign debate moments: California gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown trying to explain her employment of an illegal immigrant and someone on his staff's use of the word "whore." (There's still enough time before Election Day for other debates to trump this one ... starting with Monday's faceoff in New York between Andrew Cuomo and Carl Paladino (and several minor party candidates).

*Speaking of Paladino, judging from the video clip on our website (admittedly a tiny sample) of his visit to Kingston Tuesday, I didn't sense a whole lot of passion for or against him. Seemed like supporters and protesters were going through the motions.

*I'm not privy to internal polling, but isn't it safe to presume that if Congressman Maurice Hinchey and the Democratic Party didn't have concerns about his ability to handily win re-election, former President Bill Clinton wouldn't have been recruited to speak on his behalf at a Binghamton rally?

*I know lawn signs are part of our nation's grand political traditions, but they're little more than blights on the landscape, as far as I'm concerned. (By the way, I notice a variety of businesses and non-profits using lawn signs nowadays. Shouldn't there be ordinances against these eyesores?)