The next Election Day is more than seven weeks away, but candidates' campaign signs have proliferated all along Durham's streets these past few days.

If it seems a little early for that kind of thing, times have changed. So have Durham's election rules, and some in the political community are miffed that not everybody got the word.

"This is about fairness. No more, no less," said George Lawrence, campaign chairman for state Senate candidate Kerry Sutton, one who didn't get it, while her opponent is, current City Councilman Mike Woodard, is one who did.

Because he, like some other candidates, asked for it. It's like this –

One Durham politician at least has taken a stand on visual litter ­­-- campaign signs, that is.

Rob Griffin with Scientific Properties wrote the mayor and council members to complain about candidates' signs in the public right-of-way near his firm's Venable Center at Pettigrew and Roxboro streets. Griffin said the signs' placement suggested that Scientific Properties is supporting those candidates, which is not the case: “We, as a company, remain neutral.”

Councilman Eugene Brown answered: “There is legally no reason why we should allow political signs, including mine, to visually pollute our city. … There is a propensity for such signs to linger far after the election is over, especially by those candidates who lost. As a result, the public could be forced to live with such a nuisance for months. Denver [Colo., where Brown's twin brother is a city councilman] only allows home owners to display political signs, hence the term, yard sign. In my judgment, this demonstrates real grass root support and not just the ability of a candidate to flood our streets, landscapes and parks with personal advertisements. Here's to a cleaner environment! Now all we have to do is convince my colleagues of the folly of the status quo.”

Brown, of course, is not up for re-election this year.

What is it with all these people stealing election signs?

In Minnesota, a college professor is quite proud of himself for relieving a roadway of several McCain-Palin election signs. He writes on the blog Huffington Post of this act of civil disobedience, saying it was "one of the single-most exhilirating and empowering political acts I have ever done."

It's also a crime, he acknowledges, one that has grabbed the attention of a local sheriff.