Bush-Cheney. Kerry-Edwards.

(Nader-Camejo?)

How’s that for a conversation starter? The ink spilt and words spewed over any presidential election are enough to make the most hardened political junkie nauseous. During the coming 10 weeks, these pages will contribute their share to the overanalysis and overprediction of what’s called with almost absurd gravity “the most important election in American history.”

That may well be — but let’s not get bogged down in the merits of that discussion right now.

Instead, we encourage you to examine your sample ballot before Nov. 2. Go back to the top of this article and keep reading, past George W. and John Kerry, down to the questions near the bottom of the page.

Some northwest Iowa voters have more on their mind than Bush-Kerry. They’re worried about District Judge Jeffrey Neary, who made headlines by divorcing a Sioux City lesbian couple last November. Now, a group of citizens is raising money to try to convince northeast Iowa that Neary shouldn’t be kept on the bench this fall.

The question at hand is whether Neary, by dissolving the couple’s civil union (which was granted in Vermont in 2002), opened the door for recognition of same-sex civil unions or marriages in Iowa — and whether that merits the end of his tenure as a judge.

The judicial retention system in Iowa, in which voters decide whether a judge should be retained at the end of his or her term, was created in 1962. It’s been used to remove judges from office just four times.

No matter what your belief about Neary’s decision, and no matter what your stance on same-sex marriage, any attention this removal drive draws away from the polarizing presidential contest has to be considered a positive thing.

Because there’s a lot more going on here than “help is on the way” and whatever equally pithy slogan Republicans unveil in their convention next week.

Almost every item on the ballot you mark could have greater impact on your life than the presidential choice. Tired of decreasing state appropriations for Iowa State, spurred by saddeningly intractable relationships between the Legislature and the executive? Then check out state politics.

In Story County, there’ll be races (among others) for state representatives, county sheriff, supervisor and auditor. Ballots in some places will have yes/no votes on particular initiatives.

You can make a difference in how government is conducted just as easily with your judicial retention vote as with your presidential one. So as we hit election season in earnest, here’s our wish for you: Pay attention, and to alter the clich‚, make all your votes count.