This is a ’swing’ state.  Fortunately it is also the Sunshine State. Long lines of eager early voters have been filling the parking lots at every site. Some people have had to wait three hours to fill out their ballots.  Early in the second week of voting, it was announced that one-fifth of registered voters had voted already and the polling sites would be open four additional hours each weekday. I waited over an hour to take paper ballot in hand and file my choices in national, state and county races.  While I was waiting, I couldn’t help overhearing some of the conversations around me. Cell phones were snapped open with some regularity, and after “Hello” most everyone continued to explain that they were waiting in line to vote.  One young woman (young enough to be voting in her first presidential race) described her experience saying, “It’s great to be voting in a state where the candidates care about you and they actually come to see you.” It’s true. Barack Obama and Joe Biden have been here, even in Tallahassee.  John McCain hosted Governor Charlie Crist at a high-falutin’ picnic that also served as an interview for Vice President. All the candidates want to gather the good will and votes of Floridians. But, I suspect we weren’t waiting in that outrageously long line because the candidates have been interested in Florida voters.  I suspect we endured that trial because we were very interested in the candidates.  Both presidential candidates are offering a promise of change.  Floridians want change.  They want a sound economy with jobs for all, and opportunities to get ahead and get along. How much change they want, and what kind of small and not-so-small sacrifices they are willing to make to insure change happens will be known when the votes are finally tallied. When that young woman ended her phone conversation, she turned to her companion and noted that she didn’t know who to vote for in the race for Congress.  Her companion couldn’t pull up the name of the candidate he preferred, but, instead told her to vote a straight Democratic ticket.  She countered that she didn’t know anything about the Democratic candidate, and it didn’t seem right to vote for someone who might not represent her interests. Suppressing the answers that sprang to mind, and chiding myself for eavesdropping, I quietly pondered the possibilities and pitfalls of a race where the voters respond only to being courted by the candidates, and fail to return that interest before entering the polls.