From The State Journal-Register:

Drumbeat of negative ads intensifies as election nears

By DANA HEUPEL
STATEHOUSE EDITOR

If you've been watching local TV news in recent weeks, here's what you might have heard about this year's elections:

The Republican candidate for governor, state Attorney General Jim Ryan, "did not investigate the licenses-for-bribes scandal" surrounding current Republican Gov. George Ryan. "He let it slide."

Jim Ryan's Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Rod Blagojevich, is a pawn of his father-in-law, Chicago ward boss Dick Mell, and "he and Mell used convicted criminals to get their political work done."

In the election to replace Jim Ryan as attorney general, Democrat state Sen. Lisa Madigan is a puppet of her father, House Speaker and party Chairman Michael Madigan. She has "never prosecuted a single criminal case, not one," even though she wants to become the state's top lawyer.

And her Republican opponent, DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett, helped railroad an innocent man onto death row "using coerced testimony."

Furthermore, in the only congressional race in the state pitting two incumbents against each other, U.S. Rep. David Phelps, the Democrat, "voted against tax cuts to stimulate the economy," even though his district lost thousands of jobs.

The Republican, U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, "took thousands (of dollars) from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries" and "voted for one bill doctors say helps HMOs more than it helps patients."

Who could blame you if you're beginning to wonder if you want to vote for any of these scoundrels?

And there were more disgusting revelations. Many more.

Of course, it's not the news broadcasters who are reporting the aforementioned dastardly deeds.

It's the political attack commercials shown during their newscasts.

And, of course, the disparaged candidates deny the charges as distortions of the truth or downright lies. And they complain loudly about their opponents' negative campaign ads.

But they keep showing them. And it'll only get worse in the week or so left before the Nov. 5 election.

News media have tried to counter the drumbeat of negative ads by writing and broadcasting stories that try to tell voters where the candidates stand on issues. But all too often, those attempts are drowned out by the slick images and hammered-home attacks that the candidates are pounding across the airwaves.

And, to be fair, the news media also dutifully report on the candidates' charges and countercharges - I'm even doing it in this column - and sometimes fan the destructive fires that the office-seekers are trying to burn into voters' minds.

Unfortunately, those negative images are the only information many voters will remember when they go to the polls.

Smearing one's political opponent isn't unique to modern elections - it's a long-held campaign tradition.

In the election to decide who would be the nation's second president, John Adams' supporters called Thomas Jefferson an atheist and a coward, according to a Web site showcasing the PBS-TV series "The American President." Jefferson's backers claimed Adams was going to tear up the Constitution and name himself king of America.

Several decades later, Andrew Jackson's campaign labeled John Quincy Adams "The Pimp" because of a rumor that he had coerced a woman into an affair with the czar while he was ambassador to Russia. Adams' supporters called Jackson's mother "a common prostitute."

Even the Land of Lincoln's favorite son was labeled "Honest Ape" during one campaign, in an apparent reference to his inelegant physical features, the Web site says.

But if today's politicians didn't invent negative campaigns, they've certainly perfected them by using powerful, paid-for pictures and sound.

And while old-time attacks against political opponents might only have reached hundreds of voters during a stump speech, today's bomb-throwers can touch millions through the miracle of television.

Every election season, candidates promise to conduct positive campaigns. But when they slip in the polls, or when their opponent throws the first stone, they respond with cannons.

Like what's said about the pain of childbirth, the memories of election-year political attacks seem to fade in people's minds after all of the votes have been counted.

But it might be useful for voters and politicians alike to remember this year's barrage of attack ads the next time someone wonders why people have such a negative perception of elected officials.

Dana Heupel is Statehouse editor for Copley Illinois newspapers. He can be reached at 788-1518 or dana.heupel@sj-r.com.