Negative ads obscure the issues

At one time or another, every one of us has experienced the uncomfortable feeling that comes from being close to two people who are calling each other names.

Kids know the tension and anguish that grips them when their parents are arguing ... Teachers know the frustration caused by children yelling at each other on the playground ... Bosses know the aggravation of having two workers mad at each other, with both furiously demanding that the boss takes side.

Why bring all this up? Because the screaming spats are almost exactly like the campaign ads so prevalent in the 2006 Nebraska political campaign.

The negative ads are not new ... they've been with us for years. But, never before in Nebraska have the name-calling attacks and negative-oriented ads been so overwhelming as they have been this year.

No one we know likes it. Certainly not voters, who are fed up. And, if we can take them at their word, neither do politicians. When candidates visit the Gazette, we make a point of asking their opinion about negative advertising. Their answer is something like this, "I don't like it, but I have to do it because my opponent is attacking me."

In other words, the candidates are saying, "I'm not to blame. My opponent is." The whole situation brings to mind the stereotype of two adolescent boys, both screaming back and forth at each other, "My dad can beat up your dad."

All this negative advertising leaves us as voters in a difficult position because there is no way to escape the derogatory things candidates are saying about each other.

What it all boils down to -- as it does on the playground, in the living room or at work -- is that someone has to be the adult, and, unfortunately, that's not going to be the candidates. It's going to be the voters. We're the ones who are going to have to sort through all the attacks and counter-attacks and decide what's really important and what isn't.

In the final analysis in Nebraska in 2006, voters are going to have to do what old-timers say they have been doing for years: vote for the least of two evils.

That's not the best way to pick our leaders ... but the negative campaigning of this year's candidates leaves us no choice.