Three months, two weeks and three days after New Hampshire voters went to the polls, the Democratic presidential race rumbles on. And some of those once-inspired New Hampshire Democrats - the ones who flocked to campaign events and studiously watched candidates debate in the run-up to the primary - simply want it to end.

For some, it's the tone the race has taken, the criticisms that have flown with increasing regularity between the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. For others, it's the incessant political chatter, the television pundits opining daily about the candidates' fortunes. And for still others, it's the sheer length of a contest that began in January of last year, when Clinton and Obama officially stepped into the presidential race.

"What I've been trying to do is grapple with, why are we where we are? Why has this campaign deteriorated to the point where it's turning even people like me off?" asked Martin Gross, a Concord resident and longtime Democratic activist who supported Obama.

Gross chalks up much of his frustration to what he calls "the peripheral yammer" from talking heads and members of the press. Earlier this week, when Gross noticed that his wife (who backed Clinton in the primary) had turned on the bedroom television, "I said, 'I just can't deal with this anymore. Nobody's telling me anything new,' " Gross said. "What have we done to deserve this?'

Informal interviews with local voters, including several who played prominent roles in the candidates' New Hampshire campaigns, turned up similar comments. While some continue to thrive on campaign coverage and the ever-longer race - Clinton supporter Deb Crapo, of Rye, said, "I never get tired of it. I'm a real junkie for all of this" - many others long ago stopped enjoying this nominating process.

"Things have gotten ugly," said Sue O'Connor of Concord, who voted for Clinton. "I would like to vote for a lady or a gentleman, and I think I'm losing my options."

This year's New Hampshire presidential primary didn't pass without charges of negativity.

In the final days of the campaign here, some voters received a Clinton flier that questioned Obama's voting record on abortion rights in Illinois and a letter, signed by local pro-choice activists, that suggested that Obama had "ducked" when abortion rights were at stake. Angry Obama supporters said the attacks misrepresented Obama's votes.

Campaigning for his wife in New Hampshire, former president Bill Clinton suggested that Obama supporters considered experience a "disability." And Bill Shaheen, co-chairman of Clinton's New Hampshire and national campaigns, resigned his position after raising concerns about Obama's past drug use.

In the final debate before the primary, after WMUR reporter Scott Spradling asked Clinton about her likability, and about voters who "seem to like" Obama more, Clinton responded with levity.

"Well, that hurts my feelings," she said. "He's very likable. I agree with that," she said, referring to Obama.

Obama shot back, "You're likable enough, Hillary."

But all that looks fairly tame compared with what followed New Hampshire.

In the past few months, "I felt the tenor of the campaign has become so very negative that I just plain don't like it," said Maryellen Haynes of Concord, who voted for Obama in the primary.

"It's at the point where I intentionally don't listen to it. I don't read about it," Haynes said. "I'm just trying not to get any more irritated."