... on "Going Negative"

... A more accurate term is "comparison advertising."

Aggressive contrast campaigns are a healty bi-product of democracy -- and have been with us since this country's inception. Our political system thrives when we encourage a healthy rough-and-tumble debate over the issues, and give the voters enough information to make up their minds.

An important distinction: I would never encourage anyone to engage in spreading lies. That's truly "negative." But if it's on the record, there's nothing wrong with good hardball politics. In fact, it's healthy for democracy ...