Whether it's McCain or Obama, I just pray that by this time tomorrow, we have an undisputed outcome -- a victor and a loser who can both say with grace and humility that "the people have spoken."

We certainly don't need another Florida, but there's some fear that could happen. 

The New York Times reported last week that if the race is close and a battleground state like Ohio hangs in the balance, then lawyers for each side could start arguing and suing over voter rolls, provisional ballots and recounts.

In fact, the Times says that so-called placeholder lawsuits have already been filed in several key states, so if the outcome is razor-close the lawyers will be in a position to act quickly.

Let us hope not, for two years of a presidential campaign is more than enough.

Sure, the candidates could keep it going if they had to.  The various interest groups that believe they have the most to win or lose could scrape and claw to whatever bitter end is ahead.

And the media would love the fight.

That's the last thing our nation needs.

Right now we need governing.

The national debt is somewhere around $10 trillion and next year's budget deficit may add another $1 trillion to it.

That's less than the staggering unfunded liabilities in either Social Security or Medicare.

We're fighting two wars with a military that is stretched to the limit and still have not captured or killed the mastermind of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon seven years ago.

Capitalistic hubris, lack of oversight by a Republican administration, and shortsighted meddling by a Democratic Congress caused the Wall Street disaster that wiped out retirement savings and shaken Americans' confidence in the economy.

A vast majority of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, but they lack confidence in this president or this Congress to fix it. 

Campaigns by definition raise the public's expectations. We have problems. They provide the solutions. Bearers of bad news are relegated to the back with the other also rans.

These expectations -- whether fostered by Obama or McCain - are certainly not grounded in reality, but I suspect most of us know that.  Americans may be optimists, but we're also realists. 

Still, the dating process of this campaign has gone on long enough, too long in fact. It's time to choose one of these suitors and get on with the business at hand.

Marriage isn't as glamorous as dating, but the potential rewards are greater.

I shudder to think that stories are already emerging about the 2012 campaign. Perhaps hopeful candidates do need to plan, but America certainly doesn't need to worry about it for a long time.

Frankly, we have bigger problems right now.