From Reuters:

U.S. voters may face outbreak of “campaign fatigue”

NEW YORK - Inundated with politics long before the 2008 presidential election, U.S. voters are in danger of suffering wearying bouts of the uniquely American affliction of “campaign fatigue” in coming months….

“It’s a reality. There’s going to be a lot of fatigue, come summer,” said Thomas Patterson, a professor specializing in government and the press at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. “People are thinking this has been going on a long time already.”

Eighteen months before the election, the race for the White House has a cast of 18 declared Republican and Democratic contenders, not to mention a handful of potential late entries.

Even some political junkies feel tired.

“I follow this stuff pretty closely and it’s starting to wear me out,” said Thomas Holbrook, political science professor at the University of Wisconsin.

Many Americans are starting to feel like all this election talk is oppressive, and who can blame them? Being subjected to months of “American Idol” hype each and every year is one thing, but if you tune in to one of the four cable news channels, or read the middle-front section of the paper, or watch the second five minutes of the half-hour of network news that’s on each night… you literally can’t escape this campaign! It sucks, and it’s unfair.

We might be a nation at war, we might be the hugest per-capita offenders when it comes to greenhouse emissions, but why, why do we have to be saturated with politics to the point where we might become involved? What do these people want - more than 50% of us voting in the next election?

I’m with Professor Holbrook - I follow this stuff pretty closely, and it’s starting to wear me out. I can fulfill my duties as a talking head without continually getting beaten over the head with people’s “policies” and “beliefs” and “plans.” Have these candidates never heard of “The Sopranos?” Are they unaware that they’re clogging an internet created for porn and surprisingly-well-connected-but-curiously-disempowered Nigerian heirs? Do they plan to keep this shit up straight through next year’s Olympics? They’d better not - we only get summer Olympics once every four years, y’know.

Listen to these sad-sack candidates, too. They go on and on about “war” and “terror” and “the health care crisis” and “climate change” and “immigration reform” and “genocide in Darfur” and “the dire need for energy independence.” That stuff isn’t even news! Don’t they watch the news channels? Let me give you candidates a hint: You don’t see articles about “Paris Hilton fatigue,” do you?

There’s hope. As long as you stick to a couple of protected media outlets, you can still escape the campaign. There are still some safe havens, though very few. They are: All of prime-time network television, all of FM radio, ESPN, ESPN2, 95% of your newspaper, TNT, TBS, USA, Lifetime, Showtime, Fox Sportsnet, Bravo, all but one of HBO’s programs, FX, E!, MTV VH1, A&E, The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, “People,” “Us,” the tabloids, “TV Guide,” “Entertainment Weekly,” every video and computer game ever made, The Food Network, The Sci-Fi Channel, every movie playing in theaters right now, and any magazines specializing in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, fashion, music, cars, motorcycles, brides and weddings, gardening, decorating, architecture, computers, stereos, video games, or cycling.

It’s tough, but if you try, you can actually beat “voter fatigue.” I know I intend to - it’s just too much. Good luck, and courage.