(May 18) - Frisbees bearing a Tnuva logo were the only propaganda being distributed on the Tel Aviv beach yesterday.

We want everyone to vote for Tnuva, not Strauss or other dairies, Tnuva employee Micha Lapidot said with a smile as he watched his coworkers, dressed in blue, red, and green costumes, pass out frisbees and the truck behind him blared jingles advertising dairy products, not political parties.

The election campaign was so intense that people want a break from it, he said, adding that he planned to vote after he finished work in the evening.

Though a few of those at the beach were sporting hats with political logos, and a couple of teens still had a sticker or two left on their T-shirts, no one wanted to think about politics, let alone campaign for anyone. Whether they had done their civic duty before they indulged or were considering going after they improved their tans, the focus was on taking advantage of the sunny day off.

Miki Bracha, who studies computers at Sapir College in Shaar Hanegev, and two friends spent nearly an hour fighting traffic to get to the Tel Aviv beach, but had no intention of fighting traffic for a few more hours so that he could vote by his parent's home in Kiryat Shmona.

It's one thing to drive for 40 minutes to have a good time, but driving for two-and-a-half hours just to vote is a totally different story, Bracha said, adding that he didn't like any of the candidates anyway.

His friend Yossi Virag agreed, but said he still planned to head home to Kiryat Gat to vote for Binyamin Netanyahu, if he's not too exhausted from spending the day enjoying Tel Avivs beach and restaurants.

Nurit Simbol, a real estate agent from Yehud, said she definitely would vote but only after she has her day at the beach. The polls don't close till 10 p.m., there's plenty of time till then, Simbol said.

The crowd started arriving at the beach as early as 8 a.m., only an hour after the polls opened, and Shalom Amor, who co-owns the cafe on Banana Beach, had been busy since then, he said in the afternoon.

The beach and his popular cafe were much more crowded than they get on the weekends, he said as he filled cups with lemonade.

The ice cream parlors and cafes along the beach werent the only places that were packed, though the crowds at the outlets at Kibbutz Shefayim and stores in the Tel Aviv area may have had more to do with their special Election Day sales than anything else.

Office Depot's one-day sale on everything from furniture to suitcases was attracting almost as many customers as the store draws on Shabbat, an employee said.

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