Easy? No.

Two days passed, and I had no votes. So I went out and told everyone about my running in the senator race. Since I have a lot of friends here on Whyville, I thought that I would definitely win, since I could count on my friends. I saw some of them in the Greek Theatre and told them about my running. Only about 5 voted out of the 16 people I know. Why? I figured out that half of them were running, too! Hey, I didn't have a problem with that, until the race started to heat up!

Everyday I heard "VOTE FOR ME AS YOUR NEXT SENATOR" or some equally catchy slogan, and I got really annoyed. And even some of my friends started to say that to me. And more and more people focused not on what they wanted to do for Whyville, but how they advertised for votes. And guess what, just like you thought it would happen, some of the friendships I had were sort of... loosend.

Ladies and Gentlemen -- The lesson is, the senate race isn't for everyone. As fun as it might sound to be a senator, it takes a lot more work and energy to RUN for senator than to be one, I think.

If you don't get what I'm saying, then picture this. You're running in a track meet, and you're running in the longest race you can possibly think of. It's grueling work. But when you reach the finish line, you start to slow down, start to feel happier and happier that you ran, and you don't think of all the work you've gone through. That's just the same thing as the senate race -- really, take my word, it's just not for everyone.

So if next year or even this year you decide that you want to run for senator, think about running a race and starting to slow down and let people pass you -- that should get you back on track.

Swmer, signing off.