By the time you read this, you will have already voted or are planning to vote. In any event, according to the polls and experts on both sides, you have already made up your mind. The gaggle of last-minute campaign ads will have little effect on your choice.

This campaign season has been a tough slog. But, here on the coast, it seems it has triggered little public furor, in contrast to the controversy a couple of years ago over a proposal to construct a roundabout on Route 27. Here in Boothbay, folks got pretty worked up about the redesign of a quirky intersection. It was a project touted to save lots of taxpayers tax dollars, but it would change the way we drove into and out of Boothbay Harbor. Today, traffic moves smoothly through the roundabout.

Because the pandemic forced most of us to stay home, campaigns are being waged in the media. We see pro and con arguments in the letters to the editor section of my favorite newspapers, on the internet's social media platforms, and on our television screens, where they interrupt “Jeopardy.”

Mr. COVID-19 kept candidates from going door to door seeking votes. They can't appear at public gatherings either, as many are held over Zoom. Yard signs are one traditional campaign method still being used. Our neighborhoods and major streets feature signs urging us to vote for Candidate A or Candidate B. Did you notice the signs lack party labels?

For instance, we see lots of signs promoting legislative candidates Republican Stephanie Hawke and Democrat Holly Stover. The Hawke signs have white letters on a red background. Stover's have white letters on a green background. Neither says “R” or “D.”

In many ways, the lack of party affiliation is indicative of how both major parties have lost clout. Instead of the political parties, the big dogs in the political fight are special interests, and others no longer bound by campaign financing regulations.

Much of this is due to the 2010 Supreme Court's decision in a case called Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. This case overturned a century-long legislative attempt to limit the influence of money in our political campaigns. It enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited funds on elections.

Dear friends, if you believe this decision was the first and only time the big money gang poured lots of cash into political campaigns, there is a new bridge being built by the Trevett store that I will sell you for pocket change.

No, as a longtime officeholder explained to me, politics has a golden rule. “Them that got the gold, got the rules,” he said. I get it, money has always influenced politics, but Citizens United just opened the flood gates letting gobs of greenbacks flow into campaign war chests.

Look to the TV ads for our senate candidates, Susan Collins and Sara Gideon. In the last few frames, you will see a tag, in tiny print, that identifies the group responsible. A series of letters usually identifies them. Who are they? Who is paying the bills? Why are they shelling out bundles of cash to fund the ads?

You don't have to be Alex Trebeck to answer the question: “Why are these folks paying millions to fund political campaigns?” The answer is because they want something in return. For example, maybe they are passionate about a cause, like climate change, and want the candidates to back or defeat a measure. Sound familiar?

A few years ago, big tobacco tried to convince those who watched our parents die of lung cancer to ignore the scientific studies claiming smoking caused cancer. They funded ad campaigns claiming that smoking cigarettes was good for you. The government even promoted smoking, by including a tiny pack of cigarettes in our military field rations.

Those of my generation will remember ads for Kent cigarettes, featuring a “Micronite filter” that sanitized tobacco smoke. Later we learned Kent made the Micronite filter from asbestos, and asbestos causes cancer. Oops.

Big money has changed the game.

Once, Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, the Speaker of the House, proclaimed “all politics is local,” as he advised candidates to focus on local issues as a way to gather support. They also had staffers answering the phone, talking to voters, helping them with tough problems.

Today, as we drown in negative political ads funded with the flood of campaign cash, it seems the O'Neill rule has changed.

With a pandemic blocking candidates from meeting voters at the local Rotary Club and church suppers, Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report believes that in 2020, “all politics is national.”

I hope not.