By Abri Nelson
Negative campaigning is taking its toll on both candidates running for the coveted Virginia seat in the United States Senate. Local residents say that negative advertising is changing their minds on whether or not they even want to vote in the election on Nov. 7.
Lucia Owens, the owner of Sunday's Child in downtown Lexington, said that she and her husband use TiVO to tape everything they want to watch on television, which means that they can just fast forward through the negative commercials. They think that negative campaigning is done in poor taste and would rather see candidates talking about their views.
"They're skirting the issues," she said. "I'd rather someone would stick to their guns."
The Senate race between George Allen and Jim Webb has been called one of the nastiest races in recent years. Both men have run negative campaigns against each other, and far fewer positive campaigns about themselves.
Overall this campaign year, more than $160 million has been spent on negative campaigning between the Democratic and Republican parties, while only $17 million has been spent on positive ads.
"Negative ads have very little to do with any particular shortcomings that would make a difference in a campaign," said Mark Rush, a politics professor at Washington and Lee University. "I don't think they reflect on either candidate's capability to be a good legislator or member of the Senate."
The problem with this kind of campaigning is that it sends the message to voters that they should be voting against an opponent rather than for a candidate. In Rockbridge County, ads have been heard declaring that Allen is racist and a liar, and also that Webb made degrading comments toward women during his military service. Some ads have answered negative ads with more negative feedback. One in particular answered Allen's comments that Webb is an advocate of homosexual marriage by pointing to Webb's Christian faith and saying that he would never go against what he believes.
Owens has noticed. She said that she has seen ads from both Allen and Webb about Webb's service in the military. Both sides have used women who served with Webb in the military to credit and discredit his character. Owens said that she does not know what to do to reconcile the opposing sides of the picture.
"If they said it, they said it," she said. "They have to live with the consequences."
But if it is impossible to know what they really said, there is no way she can figure out who is telling the truth, Owens pointed out. She said that she is leaning more toward Webb just because she feels like Allen has used more negative ads, but she was so annoyed by the whole ordeal that she felt like her vote did not matter.
Kristen Rockwood, who works at a shop downtown, said that while she is a staunch Republican supporter, she is choosing to vote for Webb in this election.
"I can't stand it when they're going against each other," she said. "It makes me not want to vote at all."
Rockwood, like Owens, said that while she has seen negative campaigning from both sides, she felt that she had seen more ads from Allen than from Webb. That was enough to get her to change her point of view to vote for a candidate she normally would not support.
"I'm really annoyed," she added. "I think that [positive campaigns] show better about the kind of person they are."
"It's not as if [the candidates] are guilty of anything criminal," said Rush. "They're guilty of being stupid when they were younger and making silly misjudgments."
W&L
Politics Professor Mark Rush on negative ads
Absentee voting: how voting-savvy are W&L students?
the following campaign
ads:
George Allen attacks Jim Webb's attitudes toward women
GOP suggests Jim Webb wants to raise taxes
Jim Webb campaign attacking George Allen's honesty
Jim Webb campaign suggests that George Allen steers government
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Claudette Artwick
Reporting supervisor: Prof. Doug Cumming
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd