WHEN THE POLITICAL BECOMES THE PERSONAL:

When Shannon de Rubens, a stay-at-home mom, wears her Hillary Rodham Clinton button, she expects to be harassed. A woman in Bellevue even pretended to spit on her once. That’s all part of the game, when you’re a Clinton backer in a land of Obama bumper stickers.

“I hate to say it, but that sort of acrimony between strangers has been standard in this campaign, especially locally,” said de Rubens, who lives in Issaquah and co-founded two grass-roots campaign groups, the Hillraisers, in the region with more than 100 members total.

“We feel undervalued, mistreated and bullied. It’s been an emotional journey,” she said.

Ouch. Apparently the 2004 climate of fear in America has spread. And another stroll down memory lane here.