Missing You?

Eight out of ten Americans say they won't miss Campaign 2008, according to a Pew survey. Only 17 percent say they'll miss all the craziness, the bulk of those made up of advertising executives, people who make and sell campaign buttons, and Wolf Blitzer.

It's important to note that people may not miss the campaign, but they did like it, they did follow it. Hell, they even saved the Wednesday post-election newspaper. Twenty-three percent said they're saving a copy of the Obama wins edition, and over half of blacks said they have a keepsake newspaper.

And sometimes it's interesting to look at what journalists cover and what people say is of interest to them. The same Pew study includes a nifty graphic:

It all makes sense, though journalists obviously got caught up a little more in the transition thing than did the public. Journalists are conditioned to look at the what next more so than the public, plus it lets them write those process stories.

So the election is over, and most people are glad to see it gone. Why? The Pew survey doesn't answer this -- and it should. The why is important. Here are some possible reasons:

• A lot of people don't attend to the news all that much and they're tired of being caught up in it.
• And a lot of the same people are tired of having their favorite fine television programming invaded by political campaign advertisements.
• The whole news thing is exhausting to everyone -- the interested and the disinterested -- so it'll be nice to be "normal" again.
• There is a sense of relief too, that the expected guy won, that there were no weird Election 2000 hanging chad moments, that we can move on with serious problems.
• And the holidays are coming, but the economy sucks, and people have more important stuff to worry about than listening to Republican and Democratic candidates promise us anything to get our vote.

And so we move on, all but that 17 percent of Americans who still miss the campaign. I pray they find another hobby.