Whose ad is this, anyway?

"Whose ad is this anyway?" my wife, Sandra, asked one night recently as we sat in front of the TV as another of the ads for one of the candidates in the Democratic race for Governor rolled before our eyes. It was another of those "negative ads" - and more was being shown and said about the opponent than the person paying for the ad.

It's a trend that seems to get worse and worse with every election cycle. How and when it got started, I don't know.

If a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Saturday is any indication, voters are becoming more and more turned off by such ads and are threatening to boycott certain races because of them. Of course, it remains to be seen if they will cave in at the last moment and vote.

And, as you've probably noticed, it's not limited to just TV ads for major races in the state.

Even some candidates engage in it at the local level, usually through those slick flyers that make their way into your mailbox.

Instead of touting their own record and explaining what they hope to do if elected, the candidate paying for the ad, TV or whatever, focusing on the record, negatively, of course, of his or her opponent. Pictures of the opponent dominate the ad, albeit, very unflattering pictures. One of the flyers that arrived in our home a few weeks ago contained four pictures of the candidate's opponent and only one of the candidate, himself.

Whatever happened to outlining a platform, explaining why you want the job, etc.? Of course, each candidate always blames the other for starting the "negative campaigning" and I guess the high-priced consultants they hire tell them they have no choice but to fire back with a bit of negativity themselves. Call me naive, but is it too farfetched to think that the candidate who doesn't fire back might pick up some extra votes by not firing back?

"Whose ad is this, anyway?"

With apologies to ABC's John Stossel - give me a break.

(Ken Stanford is Newsroom Manager for WDUN NEWS TALK 550, SPORTS RADIO 1240 THE TICKET, and MAJIC 1029 and Editor of AccessNorthGa.com.)