I've talked with numerous South Mississippi candidates today and, especially among legislative candidates, heard the same refrain about how nasty many of these races were in the past few weeks.

Several said they see why more people DON'T run for public office, or that they suspect fewer and fewer will, after all the negative, sometimes personal attacks in campaign ads.

One candidate noted: "I've been having to drink Maalox."

Some of these races did get pretty nasty. In less than an hour, we'll see what voters thought about that.

Good luck to all South Mississippi candidates.

-- Geoff Pender/political editor