Well, it’s over. Or is it?

When the polls closed Tuesday, it marked the end of the two-month barrage of TV ads spewing toxic political venom.

The constant and consistent hammering of attack ads seemed to create a sort of numbness triggering a visceral urge to grab the remote and click. The out-of-state fat cats and their paid henchmen even invaded favorites, like “Jeopardy,” for Pete’s sake. The only way you could avoid them was to turn on PBS favorites like "Antiques Roadshow" or "Finding Your Roots." Or, perish the thought, read a good book.

But our Maine political races did feature several commercials delivering straight-from-the-shoulder images in Maine’s no-nonsense tradition.

Former governor Paul LePage's ad guys battled his combative reputation by filming his wife, Ann. She looked us in the face, smiled, and quietly told us her husband was a good guy who cared about Maine and asked us to vote for him. It was a sincere heartfelt message that beat the tar out of the flock of nasty out-of-state funded attack ads.

They hammered Gov. Janet Mills in national ads picturing her as a (well, you saw them). She countered with a trio of ads showing her as a smiling grandma. The first told how she raised a gang of girls. She explained that refereeing their antics while working full-time “didn’t exactly prepare me to govern during turbulent times, but it helped." In another ad, she smiled as she said attacks on her record were “BS.”

Then, she enlisted U.S. Sen. Angus King for a lunch date at the iconic Becky’s Diner in Portland. King looked at the camera and said she was a pretty good governor. When he was poked and prodded by an off-camera presence, he said she was a great governor. When the camera panned out, you could see it was Mills doing the prodding. Then they both laughed at the gag.

The idea that a senator and a governor could laugh in a 2022 campaign ad was a relief from the mountain of negativity.

Republican Bruce Poliquin’s local ads were more direct, featuring real Maine fishermen delivering unvarnished messages. One said his opponent, Democrat Jared Golden, was a good guy, but a bad Congressman because he voted with President Biden.

Another Poliquin ad featured a lobsterman criticizing Golden for accepting campaign money from a West Coast marine research lab that threatened the state’s lobster fishing community. That graphic message said Golden’s acceptance of the donation was a “kick in the nuts” to Maine’s fishing community. Ouch.

On Golden’s side, a pair of ads used humor and family values to entice your vote. The first showed him at a farm and focused on a generous pile of cow pie as Golden said he was trying to clean up the mess in Washington. Then he went a step further by using a squeegee to shove more cow manure out the barn door. Graphic images? You bet.

Golden’s last ad showed him with his wife and daughter. The image showed Golden helping his young, barefooted daughter walk down a path. It was almost impossible for a viewer not to smile at the iconic father-daughter image.

Finally, LePage featured one of our local Boothbay political figures in his ads. It was none other than Dawn Gilbert, LePage’s most passionate and energetic local supporter. It surprised no one when her image appeared at the tail end of one of the final GOP ads as she smiled and said: “I’m for Paul LePage.”

Yes, the 2022 political campaign season roared to a finish when the polls closed on Tuesday, but it was not the end. It was the end of the beginning as the political establishment, consultants, pollsters, ad peddlers, assorted hucksters, and hustlers can’t wait to start hammering the drums for the 2024 presidential race.

Will the final tallies from the 2022 mid-term races have a lot of effect on the outcome of the 2024 campaign? Maybe yes. Maybe no. A lot is going on.

We live in a world where a European shooting war threatens the first use of atomic weapons since World War II.

We live in a world where the Middle East is a powder keg, the specter of China shifting the balance of power, and that North Korean nut case is on the prowl.

We live in a world where the threat of climate change sends the sea over our breakwaters while unprecedented droughts drain our reservoirs and rivers. Then there are a border crisis and inflation.

The Democrats don't talk to Republicans and vice versa. And the MAGA Republicans don't like either of them.

And, dear reader, our two presumptive 2024 presidential candidates, ages 79 and 76, suffer from TMB (too many birthdays).

Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.