Voters say they really dislike the nastiness of negative campaigns.  Can’t we all just get along?  Can’t the candidates just focus on only their own positive contributions to the debate?  Can’t they rain Sugar Gumdrops out of the sky and lead us all to the Rock Candy Mountain?   No.  To all of that.

Election campaigns are serious contests which result in electing people that have very real power over our lives.  Its not just silly but also harmful to try to get candidates to not discuss opponent’s weaknesses.  If a candidate for Treasurer has been bankrupt a few times the public needs to know that because it goes directly to the candidate’s ability to carry out the very serious and necessary duties of the office.  If a candidate has a history of promising one thing and then doing the exact opposite then voters need to know that in evaluating the promises of the candidate.

The truth is that of course voters actually do take negatives into account when voting, and therefor that raising legitimate issues highlighting an opponent’s weakness works very well in a campaign.  As it should.  So the love fest that was the California Democratic Primary contest for Governor was bound to end sooner or later as long as the contest remained competitive because that is all that is left at the end after all the positive stuff has run its course.  And now it has, as reported by Bill Bradley on his excellent blog New West Notes:

Democrats Launch Attack Ads About Attack Ads As Positive Campaign Movement Collapses
May 17th, 2006

In California’s hard-fought Democratic gubernatorial primary, yesterday was a day of planning for dueling bus tours and maneuvering around negative campaigning. Seeking press condemnation of his rival, Treasurer Phil Angelides mostly failed to get his backers to criticize Controller Steve Westly for airing the first hard negative TV spot of the campaign as, ironically, both campaigns are now attacking each other around the state in TV ads for airing TV attack ads. Each seeks the chance to replace Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Go read it all for the details .  I for one am glad that the sham of pretending not to be negative is over in the primary election.  Now the candidates can honestly compete on all levels to earn the win in the election.  Honest and open debates that encompass all elements of the truth, not just a false partial version, are necessary to give the voter enough information so that they can make the informed choices needed for good government for California.  That doesn’t mean good government is assured.  But at least it has more of a chance.