On Tuesday, candidates and party leaders and ad agencies and pundits and bloggers -- all fall silent and anxiously await the only word that matters: decisions by you and your neighbors and fellow citizens.

Everything else during this unending, fascinating, exasperating campaign has been mere prologue leading up to this moment when voters -- young and old, male and female, rich and poor, black and white and neither of the above, Republican and Democrat and Libertarian and unaffiliated -- line up at the polling places (unless they've already done so in early balloting) to render the fateful verdict from which there is no appeal.

At this time, would-be presidents and senators and Congress members and governors stand powerless before this awesome display of democratic power as an army of everyday citizens rise up to make their wishes known.

But it all becomes a meaningless exercise if those possessing this precious right to vote choose not to bother exercising it. If you're old enough to vote and haven't yet registered, shame on you. If you're registered but aren't planning to vote, double shame. Get thee to the polling place and do your thing as an American. If nothing else, it makes you feel good.

Below, we offer a recap of the editorial endorsements published by The Pilot over the past two weeks. For partisan offices, though we didn't plan it that way, we ended up recommending that you mark seven Democrat ovals and seven Republican ones. The rest of the races are nonpartisan. Feel free to follow our suggestions or line your birdcage with them.

But go vote!

Recapping Our Recommendations

Front of the Ballot, Partisan:

President and Vice President: Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

U.S. Senate: Democrat Kay Hagan.

U.S. House: Republican Howard Coble.

Governor: Democrat Bev Perdue.

Lieutenant Governor: Democrat Walter H. Dalton.

Attorney General: Democrat Roy Cooper.

Auditor: Democrat Beth A. Wood.

Commissioner of Agriculture: Republican Steve Troxler.

Commissioner of Insurance: Republican John Odom.

Commissioner of Labor: Democrat Mary Fant Donnan.

Secretary of State: Democrat Elaine F. Marshall.

Superintendent of Public Instruction: Republican Richard Morgan.

Treasurer: Democrat Janet Cowell.

N.C. Senate District 22: Republican Harris Blake.

N.C. House District 52: Republican Jamie Boles.

District Attorney: Republican Maureen Krueger.

Back of the Ballot, Nonpartisan:

Supreme Court Associate Justice: Robert H. "Bob" Edmunds Jr.

Appeals Court Judges: James A. "Jim" Wynn, Sam J. Ervin IV, Cheri Beasley, Linda Stephens and Jon S. Arrowood.

District Court Judge: Marcie Quist.

Board of Education: Kathy Farren and Laura Kelly Kite.

(On the last item on the ballot, Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor, The Pilot expresses no preference.)