One of the things I think it's really important to understand about American politics is a handy rule; people don't vote for things, they vote against things. Like most handy rules, it's not 100% true. The candidate who's all criticism and no alternative proposals isn't going to get very far. But it's true enough. It might be more accurate to say that people are more motivated to vote against things than for things. It's why negative campaigning and attack ads work.But there are more ways to motivate people to vote against something than smears and mudslinging. Obviously, if your opponent is just plain awful, you only need to point out what their positions actually are. It's this approach that Harry Reid is using against Sharron Angle in Nevada. "Negative" doesn't necessarily mean dishonest. Sometimes, all you have to do is point out that the person who's falling down drunk isn't the best person to choose as designated driver.
And sometimes, the negative campaigning goes under the radar. I believe this is the case with one of the stories of the week. On Sunday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs pointed out that bad things could happen to the House of Representatives in November. "I think there's no doubt there are enough seats in play that could cause Republicans to gain control," Gibbs said on Meet The Press. "There's no doubt about that." When a Republican says they'll take the House, it gets press, but not a lot of attention out here in the real world. They're supposed to say that, for the same reason that a football player assures everyone that they're going to win the big game. But when a player on the other teams says it, then that makes some ripples...[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]
