Campaign Volunteers Harass Each Other 'All in Good Fun'

There is a lot of good-natured harassment going on at the Land O' Lakes Recreation Complex, as voters trickle in.

Competing campaign volunteers stand side-by-side, joking around, tricking each other into holding their opponents' signs.

Vannessa Malone and her mother, Al Malone, waved their Obama signs. Nearby, Wesley Chapel Republican Club President Mike Moore held a Romney sign.  A few feet away from where he'd placed a "Fire Obama" sign.

But there was no vitriol. The three tossed jokes around, then got together for a photo.

Supporters out to rally votes for local candidates did the same.

"They've been attempting to convert me all day," Jason Smith said. Smith, a supporter of Pasco Sheriff candidate Kim Bogart, was outnumbered by Sheriff Chris Nocco's supporters, but he held strong.

That didn't stop him from posing for photos with his competition turned cohorts, cracking jokes and smiles.

"It's all in good fun," Nocco supporter Rene Van Hout said.

Joking aside, both said they feel strongly about the candidates they were out to support as voters took to the polls today.

Chris Nocco and Paula O' Neil "truly are the real deal," Van Hout said."I vote by fact, not fiction."

Smith said he supports Bogart for several reasons.

"His experiences, his resume and him as a person," Smith said. "I know him as a friend and he's a really good person."

They weren't the only ones at the polls who had more than presidential politics on their minds. Craig King, 20, of Land O' Lakes said the sheriff's race in Pasco County was also very important to him.

"I voted for Nocco," King said. The aspiring police officer says he's met the sheriff and likes what he stands for.

"He seems like a very good guy," King said.