Virginian Catherine Caughey's number is four: Her family recently got four political phone calls in the space of five minutes.

Ohioan Charles Montague's coping mechanism is his TV remote. He pushes the mute button whenever a campaign ad comes on.

All the attention that the presidential campaigns are funneling into a small number of hard-fought states comes at a personal price for many voters.

The phone rings during a favorite TV show. Traffic snarls when a candidate comes to town. A campaign volunteer turns up on the doorstep during dinner. Bills get buried in a stack of campaign fliers. TV ads spew out mostly negative vibes.

The effects are cumulative.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)