Honestly, the idea that I could be sick of an election is surprising. I’d like to think of myself as a political junkie. I was interested enough in political science to study it for four years.

The fact remains, however, when this election comes up, I groan a little.

How could this be?

Personally, it’s probably the amazing amount of partisanship and negativity that seems to be surrounding this year’s contest. For weeks now, I’ve been drowning in various reports and accusations about things such as the authenticity of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s birth certificate, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s cavalcade of scandals and even the revival of that old ’80s chestnut, the Keating Five mess.

It’s probably not entirely the campaigns’ fault. Going into the whole process, one would expect them to have a bias and be doing their best to smear the opposition in some way. The real problem is it seems as if the media has begun to get into the act.

Fox News has yet to be able to shake the impression it has a conservative bias despite its claim of being “fair and balanced.” Now MSNBC is getting into the act, having recently benched Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as anchors in their election coverage in the wake of accusations that the pair were showing a clear preference for the left.

The way things are going, one can’t help but begin to irrationally suspect even CNN of having some bias.

It’s gotten to the point where there are so many scandals and rumors that the real issues are getting lost in the noise. It’s like that scene from “The Simpsons” in which a doctor explains to Mr. Burns that he actually has every disease ever discovered — and several new ones — but there are so many that none can get through the door and accomplish anything.

Even my last bastion of solid facts is falling prey to the phenomenon.

Many people might write off political blogs such as RedState.com and DailyKos.com as the home of political cranks and devoid of any actual content, but I’ve actually found that they — freed from the space constraints of the traditional media and unafraid of assuming prior knowledge — have far more information on the issues than one would necessarily receive elsewhere.

Today, though, they seem to be more about spreading the latest piece of gossip and analyzing the newest poll numbers. Although the bias once was manageable, they’ve now turned into a revival meeting, where each side simply preaches to the choir of the righteousness of their cause.

It seems thus far the campaign hasn’t really hit campus yet. I haven’t seen any chalking of sidewalks or signs heralding this or that candidate. I’m sure once we really hit the stride of the election — trust me, we haven’t hit it yet — there will be no way for MSU students to ignore it. Everywhere a person can look will be filled with some political message or other.

In many other countries, elections aren’t given a set day and are instead called haphazardly, often with only a restriction on how often they must be called. This leads to a system in which campaigning is done during the course of a few short months.

Given the way the United States has turned campaigning into a part of daily life, I’m beginning to think maybe those other countries have the right idea.

Now I’m sure this malaise about the whole process won’t last. I can foresee that, right around the first debate, my political fire will be stoked once again and I’ll be breathlessly hanging onto every piece of political minutia.

Would it be possible, though, for us to turn the volume of the election down until then? For the good of the country — not to mention my sanity? Pretty please?

James Harrison is the State News opinion writer. Reach him at harri310@msu.edu.