RICHMOND, Va. — People who live in battleground states tend to have a number and a coping strategy.
Virginian Catherine Caughey's number is four: Her family recently got four political phone calls in the space of five minutes.
Ohioan Charles Montague's coping mechanism is his TV remote. He pushes the mute button whenever a campaign ad comes on.
All the attention that the presidential campaigns are funneling into a small number of hard-fought states comes at a personal price for many voters.
The phone rings during a favorite TV show. Traffic snarls when a candidate comes to town. A campaign volunteer turns up on the doorstep during dinner. Bills get buried in a stack of campaign fliers. TV ads spew out mostly negative vibes.
The effects are cumulative.