A little less negativity
April 10th, 2008, 1:27 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Barry Smith
Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue has decided to take her negative ads off the air. Will others follow suit? Don’t count on it.
Perdue’s new ad touts her positive approach.
“Wherever I go people ask me, ‘Can’t we stop the negative campaign?’” Perdue says. “The simple answer is yes.”
The response from the campaign of her opponent, state Treasurer Richard Moore, was not so positive.
Said Moore campaign manager Jay Reiff: “This is no surprise given that the Perdue campaign had to pull their last negative ad because it was untrue and even her ‘positive’ TV ad has been called misleading by the Associated Press. How about a pledge to tell the truth?”
I think that vigorous debate, including communications which help voters understand inconsistencies in a candidate’s record, are helpful to voters. But the debate and ads don’t have to be carried out in a way that rip each other apart and cause voters to get discouraged.
Will the days of a candidate referring to a rival as “my worthy opponent” ever return?
