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03/01/2006: "Politics"

So, for the last week or so, I've been bombarded with mail and phone calls about how McSweeney's running a negative primary campaign against other Republicans for Congress around here. I wouldn't have known about it otherwise. All of the noise about it is coming from the Salvi campaign. From what I've pieced together, it sounds to me as if the whole thing got started after McSweeney tried to defend himself against an attack by Salvi's husband, who used an out-of-context quote to characterize McSweeney's position on abortion as different from what it really is.

Today I finally saw something from McSweeney, which basically said we need a businessman like McSweeney in Congress, and not a personal injury trial lawyer like Salvi. Is that the kind of negative attack ad that's gotten the Salvi campaign in a frothy dither? I guess calling someone out as a lawyer is pretty dirty pool! And it seems that Salvi's husband is also a lawyer. All the smack they've been talking (whining?) about how the other guy is being negative pretty much seals my mind against voting for her. The fact that she and her husband are both lawyers doesn't help her case. I wasn't all that worked up about anyone in particular before, but everything the Salvis have done recently has put me firmly in McSweeney's camp. Until a few weeks ago, she seemed about as good as any of them. Unfortunately, the Salvis have struck strong and hard and relentlessly, which is probably the way to run a campaign. They're even pressing the point that McSweeney's campaign is failing and desperate, when from where I'm sitting, it seems as if that describes her campaign. Very smart. Sadly, what they've been saying is probably all that most voters will hear, and that may be what's gotten me a little riled up about the whole thing. I wish there was a way people could get the whole picture and not just whatever's being shouted the loudest. I guess in 3 weeks we'll find out if her strategy is as brilliant as it appears to be. Is attacking someone while denouncing the concept of going on the attack the way to go? Being better than average at manipulating words and people is a given for successful lawyers such as the Salvis.