On congressional races and the wisdom of tobacco farmers...

There's a mantra here in the Cheap Seats that gets repeated often during this time of year, particularly when covering congressional races. It's short, and simple and speaks to what the ultimate goal of any political reporter should be.

"Be your own man." Pithy, isn't it?

This fantastic bit of wisdom was given to me by my father, an East Tennessee tobacco farmer and welder, in lieu of the traditional middle school speech about bridges and friends and everyone jumping.

While I can't recall exactly what dangerous or stupid fad or trend I was heading for that prompted this statement, I will always remember the moment he looked down at me and said, "Son, be your own man." And then we went back to work in the tobacco patch.

Congressional campaigns are marvelous things. They're federal races with national impact -- win enough seats in Congress and you're driving a $3 trillion budget with the power to make war. Not a bad prize. But it all comes down to what are essentially local elections.

Reporters who cover these races know the players. Congressional campaigns are smallish things, made up of a few key staffers and a handful of volunteers. And when you're in a smallish media market, you get to know all of them.

Thus begins the verbal judo, the "he said, she said" of day to day message control. Campaign staffers feign indignity at the previous day's story, while trying to use mental and emotional kung-fu to connect the voters with the message they want conveyed for free in tomorrow's paper.

Sorting it all out and putting the news, not the spin, before the readers takes a certain amount of anti-social behavior -- you're going to make someone very, very angry, even if it is just until Nov. 4.

So when you read our congressional coverage, know that what you're seeing is the end result of an emotional and logical joust between candidate and reporter, candidate and candidate, all in an effort to impress the final arbiter of it all, you, the voter.

In the end, that what every reporter should strive for, regardless of how many staffers, candidates and members of the party faithful we leave seething in our wake.

"Be your own man."

Thanks, Dad.