Summer of Slinging

Bush campaign accents the negative

Mudslinging, that is. According to scholars, no incumbent has ever run as negative a campaign as Bush/Cheney this time out--and they get high marks for deceit as well. Here's the best section of the article:

Incumbent presidents often prefer to run on their records in office, juxtaposing upbeat messages with negative shots at their opponents, as Bill Clinton did in 1996.

Scott Reed, who ran Robert J. Dole's presidential campaign that year, said the Bush campaign has little choice but to deliver a constant stream of such negative charges. With low poll numbers and a volatile situation in Iraq, Bush has more hope of tarnishing Kerry's image than promoting his own.

"The Bush campaign is faced with the hard, true fact that they have to keep their boot on his neck and define him on their terms," Reed said. That might risk alienating some moderate voters or depressing turnout, "but they don't have a choice," he said.

Back to me: Should it come as any surprise that Bush and Cheney are campaigning the same way they've governed? More importantly: Are the American people really going to be fooled by this? Can you win a second term by going almost exclusively negative to avoid your own nonexistent record of success?