This is not about politics: it's a little bit about my state, but mostly about the TV ads I was bombarded with for the past year, especially during the final 2 weeks leading up to the election - where they ramped it up to 6 to 10 ads per commercial break, just for this one particular race (on top of everything else). That's especially odd, as the number of undecided voters (only a few percent to begin with) goes down. And statistically, almost half of undecided voters don't even end up voting. According to public information, $35 million was spent on this single (Maine District 2) congressional race. And look how it has turned out:

There are a few things to note:
- Because Maine has ranked-choice voting, it's taken this long to get (nearly) all the votes tabulated.
- District 2 is the giant gray area on the map. It's gray because the race hasn't been called yet.
- Like the majority of people in the state, I don't live in District 2. I live near the bottom of the nipple hanging down from District 1 (the little blue area).
- Therefore, while this race affects the balance in the US House, it doesn't pertain to me any more than a race in Utah or North Dakota.
- I estimate that I've been subjected to around 10,000 TV ads for a race that is not relevant to me; yet I've had to endure. I finally started watching network TV on delay, or listening to music.
- The result of all this is a 2,000 vote differential. One might say they're at the same place as before the campaigning began. It's just that my brain is fried.

There are a few things to note:
- Because Maine has ranked-choice voting, it's taken this long to get (nearly) all the votes tabulated.
- District 2 is the giant gray area on the map. It's gray because the race hasn't been called yet.
- Like the majority of people in the state, I don't live in District 2. I live near the bottom of the nipple hanging down from District 1 (the little blue area).
- Therefore, while this race affects the balance in the US House, it doesn't pertain to me any more than a race in Utah or North Dakota.
- I estimate that I've been subjected to around 10,000 TV ads for a race that is not relevant to me; yet I've had to endure. I finally started watching network TV on delay, or listening to music.
- The result of all this is a 2,000 vote differential. One might say they're at the same place as before the campaigning began. It's just that my brain is fried.