Do you know what wins elections? I do.

It's not attack ads, slogans, campaign promises, voter disquietude, "(insert name here)-mania," festive rallies, or driving your supporters to the voting station, though all these factors can come into play.

What wins the election for your candidate is good-old-fashioned door-knocking. Your candidate gets up two hours before he or she goes to bed, comes to your little town and starts pounding the pavement. You get up from the breakfast table to answer the door, and there he or she is. "I would really like it if you voted for me. Here's why I think you could consider voting for me. Would you vote for me? Any questions?"

Off he or she goes to the next door, and so on, all day and every day, from the moment the campaign begins until election day, until your candidate begins to feel like he or she is carrying the weight of two vacuum cleaners on his or her back.

Of course, if your candidate is armed with amusing attack ads, clever slogans, attractive campaign promises, a sympathy for voter disquietude, a leader who inspires mania, or is able to drive his or her supporters to the polls, that is certainly no disadvantage, when it comes to winning elections. But all these other things being equal - and they usually are, except for leaders who inspire mania - the candidate who wears out the most shoes, endures the most antipathy at the doors of the nation, attempts to explain his or her thought processes to the largest chunk of the bewildered citizenry, and develops the greatest caffeine addiction will end up with democracy's great prize - public office.

After all, to the disinterested electorate, rallies, slogans, attack ads and such are just so much preaching to the converted - the ambient noise kicked up several decibels. Only those who are interested in politics all the time will attend a rally, parse campaign promises, nod or shake their heads at the attack ads, or judge parties and candidates based on their respective positions. For the rest, it just adds to the increasing disenchantment with and rejection of politics in general.

A great percentage of us would like to vote, I think. I also think that many, if not most of us, are so divorced from the machinations of our democracy that choosing who to vote for is almost impossible. But when you're not really thinking about it any more, there will come a knock at your door the day before election day, and there will be the tired looking candidate, forcing a smile, asking for your vote.

I've heard people tell of this more times than I can count. "So and so came to my door - that's what I liked." "I decided to vote for so and so because he came to my door on election day - on election day!" (Those are two direct quotes from memory, for example).

We should have some gratitude for these candidates, regardless of whether or not you support their party. These are the days of the automatic dialing system, where a recorded voice will solicit your vote - very efficient, I'm sure. Expensive mailouts, media saturation, downloadable apps, vicious attacks and name-calling, and all that talk about money makes up the face of the election process these days. But a candidate stumping around the streets is its backbone, much like it has been since elections were invented.