Negative ads have appeared more frequently on Maryland television stations as the gubernatorial race heats up and campaigns of Governor Martin O’Malley and former Governor Bob Ehrlich attack each other on various issues. According to Donald Norris, professor and chair of public policy, attack ads go after a candidate’s record, but “negative ads” are in a class of their own. “The negative ads are the ones that take the attacks even further. They distort, they lie, they misrepresent; they get into name calling and a variety of other things. What we’re seeing thus far in the gubernatorial election is just good hardball politics,” he said.
The piece, “Negative Campaign Ads Going Full Throttle,” appeared September 28 on WYPR.
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