Have you ever had somebody ask you a question but, by the time they explained the question and explained the context and explained what they think about it, you’d forgotten what the original question was?

It’s been like that, for all of us, over these last two years.

It seem incredible but the 2008 presidential campaign, which has been going and going and going just like the Energizer Bunny, will finally conclude tomorrow.

Political campaigns have become very obnoxious things, full of people telling you what to think and what not to think and why the only way you get to be “normal” or a “real American” or a “caring citizen” is if you agree with them.

And partisans of all stripes, whether they are running for office or just rooting for the folks they view as “their team,” can be equally annoying, for all the same reasons.

And, of course, much has been written over the last decade or so about the degree to which said partisanship has largely destroyed civil discourse, civility in discourse, and much of our sense of civic responsibility.

And yet, for all that this presidential campaign has exhausted the rest of us almost as much as it must have exhausted the candidates, it has been encouraging in many ways, too.

It has been heartening to see evidence that maybe voters really do have an attention span that is longer than a Superbowl commercial.

It has been encouraging to see how many people, regardless of party affiliation, have decided to prefer a discussion of the issues over mud-slinging and scare tactics.

It has been even more encouraging to see a large majority of Americans rendered uncomfortable by negative injections of the toxic issue of race into this campaign.

All of which bode well for the end result.

But, of course, none of this encouraging stuff will matter unless all of us now perform the act that signifies how we choose to ring down the curtain on this interminable political season. And, really, the least you can do after being subjected to this campaign for such a long time, is to step to center stage and respond to your cue.

You know what I’m going to say, right?

Right.

Tomorrow, if you do nothing else for the rest of the day, please go vote.