They say one picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe. But political cartoons can reveal much more.

About a month ago the Daily Freeman ran a husband-and-wife political cartoon on its editorial page.

The bubble over the man’s head had him saying, “I don’t know enough about Harris to vote for her.”

The bubble over the wife’s head replied, “I know too much about Trump.”

Since then, despite fierce campaigning and broadsides back and forth, the needle has hardly moved. It could well be that we will go into Tuesday’s elections with the candidates in a statistical dead heat.

The fate of the nation could lie in the hands of voters in seven states, none of them named New York. And the other 43? We’re just window dressing, either committed to one party or the other or irrelevant.

For Democrats, the fact that this race is this close this late has to be deeply troubling, if not alarming. They’re running against a former president who was twice impeached (by Democratic majorities) and convicted of a shopping list of felonies that could mean life imprisonment for anyone else. And still, it’s tied.

Incidentally, if neither candidate gets the necessary 270 votes from the Electoral College, the election goes into the House of Representatives where Republicans hold a slim majority. We don’t have to wonder which way that will go. Come to think of it, maybe that’s a Trump strategy.

As for party strategies in the home stretch, Democrats will go with their time-honored get-out-the-vote drive. Republicans will be counting on their historic un-polled (Trump) vote to carry them over the finish line.

What much effect Election Eve newspaper or broadcast editorials will have on the contest is hard to tell, given time restraints. For Democrats, there are more bumps in the road. Three of the country’s most liberal Democratic newspapers, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, have announced they will not be endorsing either candidate. The Star is Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s hometown newspaper. At that, those editorial boards may be reflecting the mood of the electorate.

I, for one, will be voting for either of my sons. I can’t say which because the other will get jealous. They are well-educated young men, honest and upright and they love their parents. If elected, President Reynolds would be eaten alive by the Washington establishment.

We are a nation at war with ourselves. Extreme angst is in the air. And dismay. How could a country like ours produce (only) these two candidates? I have talked to many people who sincerely believe we ae doomed if “the other side” wins. I don’t think so. I don’t want to think so.

We are the world’s oldest continuous constitutional government approaching our 250th anniversary. We will prevail, but it is going to be a rough few weeks.

Down the Ballot

Two-term U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand stands next to the president/vice president in ballot placement. The recipient of a number of fortunate political breaks, Gillibrand, then a Wall Street corporate lawyer, served two terms as a member of Congress in a district that included parts of Ulster County. She began her career as a moderate conservative but, upon entering the Senate by appointment, slid quickly left.

Her campaign is a marvel of modern political marketing. Rarely seen in these parts during a dozen years in office — compared to senior Senator Chuck Schumer, who hits all 57 counties every year — she has in the last few months become a household name.

She’s running against a hapless unknown Long Island Republican, Mike Sapraicone. His goal is to reach 35 percent.

The two races for Congress in the mid-Hudson have attracted far more attention and, it seems, TV spending. Rep. Marc Molinaro’s race against Democrat Josh Riley in the 19th District may set a national record for spending. All that propaganda has produced one of the ugliest, negative campaigns in recent memory.

Pat Ryan, D-Gardiner, pits the hometown boy against newcomer Alison Esposito, R-Walden, in the toss-up 18th CD. This too has been something of a mud wrestle, but Esposito has drawn closer than most pundits had expected. Late-breaking polls show Ryan with at most 3-1 advantage in fundraising and five points ahead. Like the Yankees, that disadvantage will be hard to overcome.

Patrick Sheehan, R-Ruby, after losing handily to Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha two years ago, switched races and is now facing an even tougher opponent, two-term juggernaut Senator Michelle Hinchey.

She’s everywhere and she makes sure everyone knows it. She has a constituent ground game that rivals her mentor, her late father Rep. Maurice Hinchey.

Sheehan has been trying to label Hinchey as a socialist, a tactic that didn’t work against Shrestha. She carries the Working Families banner, which, for most left-leaning voters, is socialist enough.

Shrestha has conducted a front porch campaign from her home in Esopus, occasionally showing up for photo-ops with fellow Democrats. We might call this the “Why bother?” campaign.

Republican Jack Hayes might have run for dog catcher were it on the ballot. A happy warrior, he’s campaigned for town supervisor in Gardiner, county legislator and county executive.

Owing to the state’s matching grant law, Hayes will have (I predict) at least $50,000 to get his message out.

I like Jack. I know Jack. He’s a nice, vigorous old (83) guy, with solid conservative values.

This is not meant as an endorsement, but a vote for Hayes or Sheehan might send a message, at least for a little while, that we are not living in the paradise ruling parties say we are.

As for turnout, it’s always important. But it matters most who turns out for whom. If Democrats hit the polls in hordes, Republicans can hide under rocks for the next cycle. Early voting activity suggests as much.

Me and Mario and Pat

We’ve had some spirited exchanges over the years on our WGHQ call-in show, but nothing like what erupted between my partner Mario Catalano and Pat Ryan last Friday morning.

It started off on a positive note. One of Ryan’s campaign people called me at home and asked if their candidate could have a half hour on our show.

Considering that Ryan, over a five-year political career, had never appeared on our show or responded to numerous invitations, what could I say? “By all means. We’d love to have our congressman on the show,” I told him.

Mario (I’ll call him by his first name; it saves strokes) was as surprised as I. Naturally, we speculated about why after years of rejection was the congressman volunteering to come on our hugely popular radio program two weeks before his reelection? Sometimes questions answer themselves.

The phone exchange with the congressman with us in studio began routinely enough. Mario began by asking Pat why his campaign was emphasizing reproductive choice when it ranks in single digits in most polls. Because a lot of people care deeply about it, he said.

I followed up with Trump’s question to Harris at their debate. “Where do you draw the line, Pat, at seven, eight or nine [months]?” I asked him

“It’s not a matter of timing,” he replied. “Oh, yeah?” I thought before Mario waded in for the next 20 minutes.

The exchange, which covered a multitude of topics, quickly “went off the rails” in the opinion of several viewers who contacted me after the show.

Mario pressed Ryan on every answer, at times “correcting” him. Ryan took as much as he got. At one point he complained that we hadn’t grilled Republican candidate Alison Esposito like that when she appeared on our show.

We ended on what seemed a cordial note and went our separate ways.

As I approached my car, my cell phone rang. “Hi, Hugh, this is Pat Ryan,” the congressman said.

I had some idea of what he wanted to talk about. Clearly pissed, even dismayed, he said he’d never been treated like that in the many interviews he had done with other media.

I wasn’t about to argue with hm over my partner’s interviewing technique, but it did occur to me that the congressman was talking about the softball “media” interviews he had done. Think Trump on Fox, any Democrat on “The View.” These people are not journalists.

Which brought our conversation to a conclusion.

“I thought you two guys were professional journalists,” Pat said.

“I’m the professional journalist,” I said, with some emphasis, “Mario is a dentist.”

“Yeah,” Pat said. “But that interview with Mario was like getting a root canal … without Novocain!”

Mario said he would reach out to Pat to personally discuss the incident with him.