A few years ago, during a presidential election campaign, I saw an editorial cartoon that depicted a man standing outside a voting booth with a bemused expression on his face. Over the door to the booth was a quotation from Dante: "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." Unfortunately for all of us, the grim jest is just as timely now. Once again, when we make our choice for president this year, the pick seems to be between Mr. Well-He's-Not-Actually-Awful and Mr. At-Least-He's-Not-The-Other-Guy. A candidate who can arouse truly positive and hopeful feelings in the electorate is once again not on the ballot.