Seeing Myself in the Next U.S. President

In today's issue of the New York Times was an article, "Obama Goes One on One, Battling 'Just a Speechmaker' Label" (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/us/politics/15campaign.htm...). The article goes on to discuss Obama's goal of interacting with voters on a more intimate level. As I reflected on the content, I thought about the reasons behind the shift. Why do we, as active voters, exercise our right the way we do?