Another potential voter starts to tell him about the car that went through his garden wall.

Weeks later, voters started getting direct-mail advertisements and phone calls from local volunteers, talking about those same issues.

After hearing the pitches, voters break into groups by ward, where they continue debating or simply start with a show of hands.

But in the late 1990's, during boom times, voters started mandating by initiative more money for health care and education.

They argued that in such a volatile year voters will not start to form opinions until the fall.

Will black voters, for example, start to drift away from their traditional home in the Democratic Party?

"The voters started this," the Governor said at a bill-signing ceremony in her office, "and they can be very proud."

We will not fix our health care system, or anything else, until the American voter starts paying attention to reality.

"But in the last week, we had a big push when voters started to get interested."

Even more spots are expected after Labor Day, when voters start paying closer attention.