When Good People Become Bad Candidates

Running for office is hard. You endure lots of hours on the road, lots of time away from the family, and lots of criticism.

I respect people who run for office regardless of political affiliation. They are, for the most part, good people with good intentions.

After all that hard campaigning, though, it's hard to face the prospect of losing. That's why good people often resort to bad campaign tactics. They are road weary and don't want all their efforts to go for naught. I've no doubt that there are candidates who, after getting some rest following a loss, regretted the personal choices that couldn't be withdrawn.

A scan of "RealClearPolitics" this morning reveals two desperation tactics; In Virginia, the trailing candidate is attacking his opponent as "anti-woman" due to a dissertation written 20 years ago; and in New Jersey, David Broder deplores the "fat boy" ploy.

Iowa voters rejected that ploy in 2004, when an opponent of Congressman Leonard Boswell okayed an ad depicting Boswell as an overweight baseball player striking out at the plate.