If there were a way to convey a big, tremulous sigh through a computer keyboard, it would appear right here. The accompanying fervent wish, however, can be more easily typed:

Please, let the campaign season be over.

How much more of this partisan rhetoric can we be expected to stomach?

Undoubtedly, there have been cheap shots emerging from both parties as the campaign clock winds down, but the latest demonstration, reflecting the desperation of the final hours, comes to the electorate from the GOP. Republicans seized on a gaffe by Sen. John Kerry — who isn't even running — as some kind of evidence that Democrats dishonor Iraq troops: If you don't study, he told a gathering of college students, you "get stuck in Iraq."

Kerry's prepared remarks clarify his intended message: "Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush."

So the man can't be trusted to deliver a joke. His somewhat wooden demeanor handicapped him in the 2004 presidential campaign, when Kerry made various other missteps, but why do Americans have to relive that election now? The ruling party, running short on ammunition, particularly when faced with dwindling support for the war, throws up its outrage over this as a deflection. Of course it may backfire, because to use Kerry as cannon fodder, the GOP has to confront Iraq — at the moment, not their best subject.

From the other side of the aisle, Democrats just can't resist the temptation to slam Republicans for the war, even when the issue is irrelevant to that particular race.

We're getting a taste of that here at home, too. Perhaps the governor has to put up with some of it because she touted her ties to Bush in the last election. And state Sen. Bob Hogue has been a vocal Bush supporter, so he has to stand on his word. But at some point, the focus should turn back to what the candidate can do for Hawai'i.

Let's hope that voters are smarter than politicians seem to think, that they can grit their teeth, ward off the noise with earplugs — and vote their conscience.