You know it’s election time when candidates and voters become tense and the letters to the editor come flying into the e-mail box and the phone calls are aplenty.

We’ve seen a bit of this in the last week — and we fully expect more in the coming weeks heading into the Aug. 18 primary. And then, of course, there’s the general election in November.

So sit back with us, and brace yourselves for some political fireworks.

Don’t get me wrong, politics are enjoyable and interesting — but there are some major clashes between candidates along the way. You’ve got to have a thick skin to get in the political ring, so put on that game face and work your hardest to get voters on your side.

We here at the Reporter are previewing the races and are putting each candidate’s views out there for voters to digest. Due to space, everything won’t fully be covered, but you’ll be getting a pretty good feel of where the candidates stand on the various issues.

And that brings me to another thing: blogs. We’ve invited all our local candidates to participate in the blog section of our Web sites at www.bothell-reporter.com and www.kenmore-reporter.com. Hopefully, they’ve all checked into it and are considering writing a blog for us — because that is their way to give us all the full details of their campaign. It’s all there for the taking, so why not go for it? It may take some time out of your day to write, but it will surely make an impact.

Speaking of letters to the editor, we’re not running those that support a certain candidate because that crosses the line of advertising. We are asking for folks to write about the stories we run and the issues that affect them, including your opinion of the candidates’ platforms.

That’s why we’re here — to get people talking, sharing ideas and getting fired up about the election. It should be a fun ride.