Often, vandalism of lawn signs is committed by bored kids who aren't pursuing a political agenda. Not excusable, but for the perps, not much different than "mailbox baseball." We'll probably never know how much of the destruction mentioned in Election brings out criminal behavior, a story from Rochester's Fox 47, is political and how much nonpartisan mayhem:

ROCHESTER, MN (FOX 47) -- The election is bringing out some criminal behavior in Rochester.

Volunteers at the Democratic headquarters say more than 1,000 DFL signs have been trashed in the past week.

Last Friday, some vandals destroyed signs on North Broadway and West Circle Drive.

Joseph Book volunteers at the DFL headquarters and says he had four lawn signs stolen from his property in Haverhill Township. They were for Barack Obama, Al Franken, Tim Walz and Andy Welti.

"It's desperation or frustration, or whatever you call it," Book says. "It's just a sad state of affairs when one person can't talk to a neighbor civilly."

Book says he donated around $400 to help replace the ruined signs along the city streets and many other volunteers have put in a lot of time to help.