My dog and I were discussing the gubernatorial and Senate races last night during our walk.

He is a very good listener and fair-minded about everything except cats. He hates cats and surely would never vote for one.

He is quick to remind me that behind every good leader is a dog: Fala supported FDR, LBJ had his beagles, Clinton had Buddy, George W. had Barney, and there is currently a Bo in the White House. Who, however, can forget Checkers?

Anyway, we were discussing the tone of the campaign as much as the actual candidates. We are both a little put-off by all of the scraping and back-biting.

All these accusations of lying, cheating and getting rich off unfair practices is a little tiresome. The dog thinks some of the commercials are pretty funny. He said that we humans think his life is a dog-eat-dog world. He says we are way worse.

It is his opinion that Sen. Barbara Boxer has a great name for a candidate. He likes to bark at UPS trucks, which make him partial to Brown. But he rarely lets superficial things sway him, although he liked the Bushes.

As a strict constitutionalist, he leans toward the Tea Party, while I am a progressive. Yet we get along fine. I feed him for free out of the household budget, and he barks at everything at random to keep everyone honest.

In general, he does not like government or the media, as evidenced by his yapping at the mailman and newspaper delivery types. (On Fridays, I am a member of the media, so we do not talk much as we walk together.)

On the whole, he believes that this nation is going to the dogs, which he likes in principle.

I asked him what he would do if he were governor — his platform was pretty limited to treats for everyone who does something right.

Now, this scruffy white dog has never been CEO of eBay or Hewlett Packard. He was not governor, senator or attorney general before, but he does a great job napping. No one ever went to war or misappropriated money during a nap.

Moreover, he is generally civil and housebroken. You know where you stand with him.

He also thinks that politicians could learn a great deal from the canine population — for one, dogs never soil their own bedding and will only sit up and beg for a sure thing.

• Mike McLellan can be contacted by calling and leaving a message at 830-4231 or e-mailing him at DrMikeM@sbcglobal.net.