Rule often ignored? Too many interruptions at dinnertime

We live in an in-your-face age, and it’s the political season.

Politics comes as us relentlessly on the television in the living room, in the mailbox and – perhaps most annoyingly – on the phone, with lots of recorded messages.

Even with that there are rules. The state has a no-call list that’s proven amazingly popular. In a state of 6 million people, the no-call list has 2.7 million sign-ups. But the list exempts politicians and their causes. Even so, there’s a federal rule that these “robocalls” have to identify up front who’s paying for them. The caller is supposed to give a number you can call to get on that particular no-call list.

Attorney General Jay Nixon – who’s running for governor and who has always had an unerring sense of what brings good publicity – says some campaigns in Missouri didn’t follow that law as the Aug. 5 primary approached. (Nixon’s campaign says it doesn’t use automated, recorded calls.)

Nixon says he’ll go after the scofflaws. Fair enough. But these enforcement actions – as with campaign finance violations – never seem to come in real time. Officials have to gather complaints, put together evidence, file paperwork and stick with it to the administrative or legal end. Meanwhile, this election will be over nine weeks from today. How many family dinners will be interrupted between now and then? Nixon and his successor should stay on top of this one.