Negative Ads

I find your front page quote "Negative ads appear to help incumbent firm up his Democratic base and win over independents" to be very sad indeed ("In poll, O'Malley opens 14-point lead over Ehrlich in governor's race," Oct. 24). If negative ads are what are swaying Democrats and independents, then I would not want to be either. What happened to researching candidates on their merits and not letting the press dictate our thoughts? Diane Butler

When the Olympic Games began almost 30 centuries ago in ancient Greece, rulers of city-states proclaimed an "Olympic truce," a ban on warfare to allow athletes, poets and spectators to attend without getting speared. It would be nice to think that this year's Olympics might turn into the occasion for a domestic political truce, a summer vacation from the ferocious character attacks each side has been leveling at the other's candidate. But it's not going to happen. Why? Because negative advertising works.

When the Olympic Games began almost 30 centuries ago in ancient Greece, rulers of city-states proclaimed an "Olympic truce," a ban on warfare to allow athletes, poets and spectators to attend without getting speared. It would be nice to think that this year's Olympics might turn into the occasion for a domestic political truce, a summer vacation from the ferocious character attacks each side has been leveling at the other's candidate. But it's not going to happen. Why? Because negative advertising works.

Democratic House candidate John Delaney is up with the first negative television advertisement in Maryland's 6th Congressional District, taking to voters a feud with state Sen. Rob Garagiola that to date has mostly played out on the blogosphere. "He's not telling the truth," the ad's narrator says as black and white pictures of Garagiola flash across the screen. "He's hiding that he lobbied for five years, failed to legally disclose nearly $200,000 in lobbying fees, even lobbied to undermine health care reform.

Negative campaigning has a bad reputation, routinely being disparaged as juvenile taunting that serves only to degrade public discourse. Even devoted practitioners feel the duty to deplore negative campaigning. After commissioning an ad accusing Mitt Romney of grievous departures from conservative wisdom, Mike Huckabee was so remorseful that he refused to run it - though he managed to disseminate his charges in a news conference where he sorrowfully screened the spot for the news media.

Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey has released a 30-second television spot that takes Gov. Parris N. Glendening to task for running negative ads.What the ads say: The commercial begins with a quote from a Sept. 30 editorial in The Sun: "Sauerbrey has a clear, crisp vision we haven't seen that from Parris Glendening."It goes on to say that the governor is running a "campaign of fear," and Sauerbrey says that she has sponsored "tough mandatory sentences for crimes with guns" and has "a strong environmental plan to protect the Chesapeake Bay."

MINNEAPOLIS -- Candidates and their campaign managers are forever saying they abhor negative advertising, but justify using it because "it works." But here in the Minnesota Senate race between incumbent Democrat Paul Wellstone and Republican Rudy Boschwitz, the man he knocked out of the Senate six years ago, that alibi may be proving, happily, to be invalid.From July to early September, a barrage of television ads for Mr. Boschwitz that ridiculed Mr. Wellstone apparently cut an eight-point Wellstone lead in the Minnesota Poll to a virtual dead heat.

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- Fending off attacks while leveling his own, Bill Clinton streaked from the South to the farm belt yesterday, trying to calm the fears of voters exposed to a barrage of negative Republican advertisements.In every contested state he visits, Mr. Clinton finds voters wondering whether to believe what the Republicans say about him in ads.Would he roll back the clock on civil rights? Does he oppose oil drilling off the Louisiana coast? Would he require farmers to get government permission to use their land?

I agree wholeheartedly that the Supreme Court should revisit the Citizens United decision and put the brakes on the outrageous amount of money being spent on presidential campaigns by supposedly "independent" Super PACs ("Buying the presidency," Feb. 24). When politicians never stop chasing the money needed to get elected or re-elected, it's time to do something about it. There is something truly wrong when all those millions of megabucks are being spent on negative ads while the country is facing an enormous debt and millions of people are without jobs, homes and a decent quality of life.

Both Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Mayor Martin O'Malley have experience with campaign ads designed to make you feel good about them: Ehrlich talking about his modest upbringing in Arbutus, "where flags fly on the Fourth," and O'Malley's mother rhapsodizing about his sterling character. You won't be seeing any more of them. As the Nov.

I agree wholeheartedly that the Supreme Court should revisit the Citizens United decision and put the brakes on the outrageous amount of money being spent on presidential campaigns by supposedly "independent" Super PACs ("Buying the presidency," Feb. 24). When politicians never stop chasing the money needed to get elected or re-elected, it's time to do something about it. There is something truly wrong when all those millions of megabucks are being spent on negative ads while the country is facing an enormous debt and millions of people are without jobs, homes and a decent quality of life.

Given that the country is facing huge problems and still digging out from the worst financial crisis since the Depression, some might expect that the seemingly endless debates and breathless saturation of media coverage of it all would converge into a real discussion of our major problems. But only if they haven't been paying attention. Though the country is sorely in need of solutions, and the public hungry for real debate, that's not what was served up in Iowa or New Hampshire -- either by the candidates or the vast pack of media covering their every word.

I find your front page quote "Negative ads appear to help incumbent firm up his Democratic base and win over independents" to be very sad indeed ("In poll, O'Malley opens 14-point lead over Ehrlich in governor's race," Oct. 24). If negative ads are what are swaying Democrats and independents, then I would not want to be either. What happened to researching candidates on their merits and not letting the press dictate our thoughts? Diane Butler

Gov. Martin O'Malley has opened a 14-point lead over former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in their gubernatorial rematch, solidifying his Democratic base and winning over independents while his rival struggles to capitalize on the voter anger that is propelling Republicans in other parts of the country, according to a Baltimore Sun poll. Democrats who had been undecided during the summer are lining up behind O'Malley, who enjoys wide margins in the vote-rich Washington suburbs of Montgomery and Prince George's counties and has a narrow edge in the Baltimore suburbs — regions where Ehrlich had hoped to make inroads.

When asked about political "attack ads," American voters overwhelmingly express their disapproval of them. Yet negative ads persist because they work. As Nov. 2 approaches, the airwaves are filled with such ads accusing rival candidates of all sorts of dastardly deeds, of possessing questionable character and of being stooges of powerful special interests. I read an interesting comment by political science professor Ken Warren of St. Louis University that people often have the misconception that negative ads must be true in order to be aired.

Here's a look at what people are saying about the gubernatorial debate between Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. held Monday: • The Washington Post's Maryland Politics explains how both campaigns immediately claimed victory after the debate . Such campaign spin is hardly new. Before it was disseminated easily over BlackBerry devices and WiFi, campaign staffers would haul in printers, copiers and before...

WASHINGTON - President Bush's campaign unleashed its first negative ads yesterday, attacking Sen. John Kerry as a candidate who would raise taxes by billions of dollars once in office and who would weaken the nation's defenses against terrorism. Set to ominous music, one new television ad - ready to run nationwide on cable television and on local stations in 18 targeted states - says Kerry's plans in his first 100 days in office would include raising taxes "by at least $900 billion" and weakening the Patriot Act that is "used to arrest terrorists and protect America."

WASHINGTON -- In the waning days of this year's closely contested midterm campaign, attacks aimed at impugning a candidate's character and morals increasingly are dominating campaigns, raising questions about the appropriate boundaries and tenor of the debate. Yesterday, James Webb, the Democratic Senate candidate in Virginia, came under harsh attack for explicit sexual passages he wrote in a novel years ago - the latest twist in his nasty race with Republican incumbent George Allen. In Tennessee, much of the week's campaign focused on a TV ad featuring a woman suggesting that she met Harold E. Ford Jr., the Democratic Senate candidate, at a Playboy party and, saying, with a wink, "Harold, call me."

Negative campaigning has a bad reputation, routinely being disparaged as juvenile taunting that serves only to degrade public discourse. Even devoted practitioners feel the duty to deplore negative campaigning. After commissioning an ad accusing Mitt Romney of grievous departures from conservative wisdom, Mike Huckabee was so remorseful that he refused to run it - though he managed to disseminate his charges in a news conference where he sorrowfully screened the spot for the news media.