solely on issues deemed priorities by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. What we were trying to do was simply to help readers make informed decisions as the presidential primaries and election approach.

The 2008 presidential election already is one of the most fascinating of the last half century because it’s been that long since an incumbent – either president or vice president – hasn’t been running for a party’s presidential nomination. Not only isn’t there an incumbent candidate, but there are many, many candidates in both parties and their standings seem to change with every poll that’s published or broadcast.

By early February, after many states have held their primaries, each party’s likely nominee should be clearer or perhaps even decided, but the outcome of the presidential race will still be very much undecided.

That being the case, it is vitally important that everyone who is eligible get out and vote in this presidential election. I am constantly amazed and ashamed at how few Americans turn out to vote in national, state and local elections.

One of the reasons I became a journalist is because I truly believe that the free flow of information is essential for a democracy to function. Just as essential is an involved and voting citizenry.

We have the right to disagree about whom we support to run our country – pitifully few people around the world can say the same in their countries unfortunately. But with that right, I believe, comes the duty to be involved and that means a duty to vote.

The last presidential election was the first that my son, now 23, was eligible to vote in. He was sick in bed at college on Election Day, but he later told me that he had felt so strongly about the outcome of the election that he dragged himself out of bed to vote. I was incredibly proud to hear that.

I cast my first presidential vote as a college student in 1972. For those of you not around then, the Vietnam War was still very much ripping the country a part. In my native New York City, students would regularly clash with construction workers in mob violence that left both sides bloody and battered. Families were ripped asunder and there were times when it appeared the country would be thrown into utter chaos such as that which had reigned in Chicago, where I now live, during the 1968 Democratic convention.

But even in the midst of all that, people voted for presidential candidates and agreed to abide by the outcome of the election, and, because of that, our country survived and grew.

Whom you decide to vote for is completely your choice, but please, please vote. And keep those letters and e-mail messages coming. In this election season, there’s going to be lots to talk and write about.