I don't know how you feel, but for me enough is enough. Isn't that the phrase that frustrated parents use when their young and immature offspring misbehave?

In my adolescent years when a parent's nerves were at their breaking point they would follow-up with one more peep out of you and you are going to you room. Then the threat of no TV for a week would soon follow. And that meant no Howdy Doody for seven whole days. Of course, nowadays, I guess the parents scream and no Xbox or Playstation 2 for a week!

Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could send our country's leaders and their devoted followers to their respective bedrooms for time- out sessions?

After all, President Bush and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and their campaigns have been ranting and raving about each other's military service for weeks on end.

All of the hoopla about the hearsay that dates back 35 years isn't the most important thought that should be on our agenda. The world has changed dramatically over the last three-and-one-half decades and so have we as individuals. I know I wouldn't want to be judged today based on some of my behavior when I was in my early 20s.

Let's move on to more serious issues that face our great nation today. And if these candidates and their parties can't stop attacking their opponent's personal military records, why not have each candidate roll the dice and take a lie detector test. Hey, maybe in the future all politicians should have to take a polygraph just in order to run for an office.

But I guess if we took that course of action, our pool of potential candidates would be extremely small. Now I know a lie detector test isn't 100 percent reliable, but I bet the thought of taking one would eliminate many truly undesirable candidates.

Unfortunately, I believe both President Bush and John Kerry would rather have the election decided on a 35-year-old bipartisan issue, because neither one appears willing to take the high road. The high road being presenting their proposals for handling the crises that threaten our nation today.

What about the Iraqi War? I'd like to know how each side plans to get us out of Iraq honorably while keeping our word to the Iraqi people.

Or what about the oil crisis? I haven't heard each party's vision as to how to solve the problem of $45 oil. If we don't do something about the oil crisis our economic recovery will certainly be hampered more than it already has been.

And jobs? President Bush in February 2004 promised us 2.5 million new jobs by the end of this year. It seems to me that we are about 20 lengths off the lead and I don't believe Secretariat is in the race.

Now I am really not criticizing Mr. Bush's efforts on employment, as much as I would like to know what Mr. Kerry plans to do to improve the job market. I haven't seen a detailed strategy proposed by Mr. Kerry. How can I judge him on his employment policies? Answer is, I can't.

Mr. Greenspan recently testified that we have an enormous problem with our Social Security system for the aging baby boomers. I don't know about you, but I don't recall seeing any meaningful statements from either party on how to rectify the situation.

What about health care, and especially the cost of prescription drugs in our country? It is sad to say, but I now know more about a Swift boat than I know about a legitimate reason why drugs are cheaper in Canada then they are here in the States.

I never knew what a Swift boat was, let alone how fast and noisy they are (noise prevented the boat from being used in any reconnaissance missions) until all the mud slinging began.

Need any more issues that need to be addressed? What are the candidate's concrete positions on the federal deficit, or the rising level of poverty right here at home.

Why aren't our leaders confronting these issues and developing platforms on which each side may be judged? My answer, I don't believe either candidate has a clear cut and comprehensive solution so they detour the voters minds by throwing emotional mud at one another.

And let's face it, each of the party's advocates is going to hear what they want to hear and believe what they want to believe.

So what it boils down to is two candidates running for the highest office in the country, telling the country's masses what they want the citizens to hear and believe. Political campaigns live by the rule that if you tell the people often enough they will eventually believe it to be the truth.

It doesn't matter if it is right or wrong, it is the end result that matters. And isn't that really what the art of politics is all about? Just get your man elected!

I believe when the polls close on Nov. 2, 2004, the election will once again be extremely close and we will suffer through as a divided nation for another four years which makes our country weaker in the eyes of our enemies.

Hopefully, sometime in the near future our candidates will decide to take the high road and discuss in detail the serious issues that face our nation and at the same time give us their detailed vision for the future on each issue.

Then and only then will we be able to judge the candidate in an objective manner, and if we can take off our blinders and place our biases aside, we will all be able to cast an intelligent vote.

This child-like squabbling between the candidates is part of the reason our equity markets are in a prolonged trading range.

Without an educated guess as to who will win this year's race and what their policies might be, it is difficult to predict the future behavior of our financial markets. After all, the financial markets tend to generally price themselves nine to 12 months in advance.

As for your portfolios, you must be careful during these uncertain times. I don't believe it is a mistake to over weight your cash positions in either your personal or retirement portfolios.

The great thing about the stock and bond markets is that you can always invest in the market anytime you want.

It's not like missing a train at the station or a plane at the airport where you might have to wait several hours or days to catch the next departure. With the stock market you can get on board anytime. No waiting or long layover periods.

So until we get some answers to the pressing issues that face our great country, and a strong feeling for whom the likely winner might be, tread carefully and remember a 1 percent return on capital is better than a loss of principal no matter how you look at it.

So to President Bush and Mr. Kerry I say enough is enough and lets start discussing the real issues of today. Let's discuss how to get our country back on its feet politically and economically. Let's decide this election on rational and objective reasoning and not on emotional mud-slinging rhetoric.

David R. Clogg, ChFC is an account executive at Chapin, Davis. He can be reached at 410-435-3200 or visit his Web site at www.theeducatedinvestor.info.

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