Sinking in the political mud

I hope the story on the front page of Sunday's Enquirer about how low politicians are willing to go finally wakes them up to the damage they are doing to the system -- but I don't have much confidence that it will. Most candidates and their paid tacticians seem to think this garbage sells.

We've actually had some politicians tell the Editorial Board that they have "no choice" but to hit back with negative ads because that's much more popular with their supporters than simply ignoring an attack and trying to put out a positive message. They should read the pages of comments on the Enquirer's Web site that accompanies today's story. Maybe then they would see that they do have a choice.

Perhaps the scurrilous attacks by Ken Blackwell against Ted Strickland will be a tipping point. As Sunday's editorial noted, Blackwell had strong ideas in this race (pretty much the only ideas), but he abandoned his strategy and dropped talk of his ideas to grab a fistful of mud when he thought the voters weren't paying attention to the important things he had to say.

I've known Ken Blackwell as an independent-minded politician for more than 25 years, always willing to stand or fall on the strength of his positions. I'm ashamed that he has taken this cowardly approach because he feels his positions aren't going to sustain him. As the editorial stated, Blackwell has the better ideas about what a governor should do. But he is not a better person.