by Matt Barr

You're not allowed to campaign anymore

The "swift-boating" has begun in the Ohio governor race, the Akron Beacon Journal dutifully reports:

Ten days ago, U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland said he was waiting for the "swift-boating" to begin.

In the race for Ohio governor, Strickland, the Democratic nominee, has been consistently ahead in the polls over Republican Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell -- as much as 20 percentage points in some. And Strickland said his own polling told him that his negatives were running low and his positives high.

That's why he was certain Republicans would go on the attack.

"I know how mean it will be," Strickland said. "We are ahead. They're going to have to become quite negative."

Within days, the attack began.

Myself is braced. Is yours?

On Wednesday, the Ohio Republican Party launched a Web site, www.tedequalstax.com, attacking Strickland's record in Congress on taxes.

Then Common Sense Ohio, a Republican-leaning nonprofit group, launched TV ads attacking Strickland's positions on abortion, gay marriage and taxes.

The ads show a zebra creeping across the television screen and question whether a zebra can change its stripes.

His record in Congress on taxes? His positions on issues that matter to voters? Does the Beacon Journal know what swift-boating means? Wait:

The term swift-boating, as a verb, was born out of the 2004 presidential campaign, when Republicans attacked Democratic Sen. John Kerry by questioning his military service as a swift boat commander in Vietnam.

Questioning his military service. They're on to something. Much, much later in the piece, after Strickland and his people get a chance to boast how "muscular" their response is to these "negative smears":

"This may be one of those interesting elections in which the campaign actually matters. The campaign itself may be critical in defining how voters see these candidates by Election Day," [John Green, director of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron] said.

Green said voters may perceive some ads as negative, which political scientists would actually define as "comparative" -- ads in which candidates are compared to one another or in which one candidate is compared to his record.

The current ads against Strickland would fall into this category.

"Those types of ads, while they may be unflattering and critical, are actually quite useful politically because voters actually learn facts about the candidates. However distasteful they may be, they serve a broader purpose," Green said.

True "swift-boat" type ads, Green said, will attack a candidate's character.

Now you're talking gibberish, professor!

This article portrays what the reporter's expert of choice on the record says are "useful," "comparative" ads as negative, smearing character assassinations. Who is this writer and her editor working for?

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