Keller @ Large: Bad Habits That Need To End With This Campaign

BOSTON (CBS) - It is the single most common comment I've heard over the last several months from people I meet on the street – When will it be over?

In theory, it will be over the day after tomorrow.

In reality, that might just be the beginning.

So while I can't really answer that common question, I can counter it with another question – what is it that you want to see end along with this campaign from hell?

For instance, I would like to see an end, for at least awhile, to the too-casual use of the word "corruption," a term with a specific legal meaning that has been itself corrupted by overuse.

If a court finds a President Clinton guilty of criminal behavior, or a President Trump is found to have committed fraud, by all means, let it rip. But please, no more trial by innuendo and slander.

How about a moratorium on describing one's adversaries as "disgusting," in Trump's spittle-flecked phrase, or "deplorable," a classic unforced blunder from Clinton?

Campaigns get hot, we get that, but if you never dial down the schoolyard taunting, you risk turning recess into a war zone.

And while we're at it, let's drop all the policy baby-talk after tomorrow.

No more grandiose promises without a hint of how you'll pay for them; no more double-talk on trade, immigration, and other issues that defy the easy solutions these two have tossed around like loose Pez.

Tomorrow night, someone's victory speech will likely include a line about a "new beginning."  Don't they always say that?

First, let's make sure the worst habits of this race come to a bitter end.

Listen to Jon's commentary: