Pittsburgh has always been an ethnic city with ethnic neighborhoods. That ethnic pride can be seen in the red, white and green flags in "Pittsburgh's Little Italy," Bloomfield, or in the green-clad marchers at the St. Patrick's Day Parade or even in the plethora of places serving Polish delicacies like pierogies and kielbasa. Steelers pride goes without saying. Pittsburghers adorn their houses and even themselves with black and gold on a daily basis.

But this election season has brought another kind of displayed pride. Partisan pride.

I live in a swing state. Which means I live in a swing county. Which means I live in a swing neighborhood. Which means I live on a swing street. It's kind of exciting really, especially since our primary is more or less a formality. It feels nice to finally matter. Like in many elections, people are letting their bumpers do the talking but the messages change depending where you go.

At the Giant Eagle parking lot I saw "Bush/Cheney '04" and "Kerry/Edwards '04" bumper stickers. At Whole Foods I saw "Nader '04" and "I Mountains." Now there is a new way to advertise who you are going to vote for. Posters. We may have a lot of undecided voters here, but you wouldn't know it by looking at their front porch windows.

I met Brett Yasko at a Lawrenceville coffee shop while he was dropping off his "Partisan Project" poster packets that were being scarfed up more quickly than the French pastries. Yasko invited 15 designers and artists, from Pittsburgh and on both coasts, to each design a poster for his unique contribution to the 2004 presidential election. It is called the "Partisan Project" because it is exactly that. All the posters have an anti-Bush theme. Yasko said that aside from the calls from coffee shops around Pittsburgh, he's also received requests from varied places around the country. He's even created a Web site at www.partisanproject.org.

Lawrenceville may not be Main Street America, but it's close enough for me. I decided to conduct my own informal survey. I walked down Main Street between Penn and Butler and counted houses displaying political pride. I counted 10 houses with "Partisan Project" posters in the windows, 24 houses with flags or flag decals, two with "pray for our troops" ribbons and only one or two with actual Bush/Cheney or Kerry/Edwards placards. What does this mean? I don't know, but it does illustrate that the election has unfortunately been reduced to "Patriotism vs Bush-Hating."

The other day I saw a guy wearing a Steelers jacket with a Kerry/Edwards button on it. Somewhere there is a Browns fan with a Bush/Cheney button on. Let's hope they never meet.