I am struggling with my part in the pre-election season. Last Sunday I attended a house party for moveon.org and made phone calls to Moveon members, who are also Obama supporters, to make known to them opportunities to work for the Obama campaign. I was handed a script written by Moveon.org and a list of folks in Boulder to call. No trouble, right?

Part of the script was to ask folks if they've been following the campaign, and then to as a follow-up question or two. This implies that the caller has been following the campaign and knows enough to sound intelligent. I followed up with the next scripted line on the page. What a foul Obama supporter I am, or am I an Obama supporter at all?

I have very mixed feelings about having helped his campaign even for those two hours. It's not that I agree with the current administration. It's not that I think McCain will be any different than Bush, Jr. and therefore whole-heartedly support him. It's that I'm not sure Obama will be any different, either.

Maybe I'm too cynical to be alive, but what's keeping him from saying the right things now, and then changing his mind later? Or just not being able to carry through on his campaign promises? Really, what it comes down to is that I'm not sure I can get excited about another candidate; I'm still too politically tired from Gore's bid in '00. So, what to do? as the Nepali would say.

I've signed up to volunteer to register voters at Denver's Oktoberfest on Saturday. It's not a particular candidate's campaign, but it's still a contribution to the election effort. I won't have to make small talk about the presidential race I'm barely paying attention to. And I won't have to profess belief and faith in something I don't believe in. Although voting failed us in 2000, didn't it?

Shite. I wanted something to believe in.