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Candidates need to stop the negative attacks

Endless mudslinging is an insult to voters

It would be hard for anyone to forget that a national election is about five months away.

The continuous stream of advertising, much of it negative, is enough to prevent any Iowan from forgetting about the upcoming vote.

The fact that the candidates and their various supporters are advertising a lot isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s a necessary part of a democracy.

It’s the nature and content of so much of that promotional material that is the problem. Rather than hearing about the ideas of the various candidates, people are being subjected to an onslaught of mudslinging, attacks and character assasinations. And quite frankly, they are sick of it.

The constant negativity is likely causing people to tune it all out and to quit paying attention to the election. That is bad for our democracy.

We challenge candidates at all levels to stop it.

Candidates ought to be telling us their ideas for the future of our community, state and nation, rather than trying to tear each other down. And they should be telling us why their qualifications and their track records make them the best choice, instead of trying to dig up dirt on their opponents.

The mudslinging isn’t limited to one political party. And it appears that some of the worst garbage voters are being subjected to comes not from political parties or individual campaigns, but from various committees and groups that support candidates. The candidates should be telling those groups to clean up their acts.

We believe candidates should run on their ideas and their records. To do anything else is an insult to the people whose votes they are trying to win.

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