Elections turn negative in last few weeks

    One of the nice things about having a DVR is that in addition to being able to watch TV programs when you want you can also skip through the commercials.  This is especially nice with the campaign season now in full swing were half the commercials are for political candidates.  However not having a DVR this past weekend, on a trip to Front Royal Virginia, forced me to watch the negative political commercials from Virginia candidates.
     It has been a belief of political consultants that voters still undecided at this point in the election cycle are more likely to vote against someone than to vote for someone.  For this reason most political ads from now till election day will be heavily weighed toward the negative side.  Scaring voters about your opponents beliefs is all we will get.  I saw commercials warning voters that one candidate believes that being a mother is not really a job and another candidate offered a possible job as a federal judge .
    If you haven't made up you mind on who you want to vote for in Maryland yet I would suggest that you not listen to any of the negative ads or mailers that you may see.  They won't address the real issues or positions of the candidates.  This is especially true for those that come out a couple of days before the election.  These ads are the most false because they know that it is so close to the election that there will be no time to refute the charges.  If you want to know what the candidates real positions are check out their websites before making any decision on which candidate to vote for.  Here are some links to candidates websites for Howard County Executive and Maryland Governor.

Allan Kittleman
Courtney Watson

Anthony Brown
Larry Hogan

P.S.
    Notice how the attacks on the Affordable Health Care program have been very muted by opponents of the program?  Wasn't this supposed to be a major issue in the mid-terms?  Maybe it is hard to attach something that has benefited so many voters.  Or maybe the attackers are waiting for the appearance of the "death panels" that they warned us would come.

P.S.
    I have never understood undecided voters when you have a race that presents two candidates with such different agendas and political views.  I suspect that often undecided voters are just the least informed voters who may not make their voting choices on a rational basis (i.e. oppose Obamacare but support the Affordable Health Care program without realizing they are the same thing).  You can be independent in your political choices just don't be independent because you are uninformed.

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