Ashley Goings would like to think that the next governor will be elected based on positive issues instead of negative campaigning.
“I think voters need to focus on the facts and not pay attention to politicians’ point of view toward other candidates,” said Goings, a pre-veterinary freshman. “No candidate is going to say that another candidate is wonderful, so their statements are going to be one-sided.”
For the first four weeks of the gubernatorial runoff campaign, Goings’ wish was coming true.
But following the Nov. 2 televised debate between Bobby Jindal and Kathleen Blanco, in which both candidates agreed not to use the other’s name in any advertisement, negative advertisements have been a major topic of discussion.
Within a week of the debate agreement, each side started running negative ads that put its opponent’s record and history in question.
While both candidates have bickered back and forth about the negative ads, Kirby Goidel, a mass communication professor, said this election’s campaigning has “not been terribly negative” as compared to other gubernatorial elections.
Spokespeople from Blanco’s and Jindal’s campaigns started the blame game shortly after the negative ads ran.
“From day one, Kathleen has been in attack mode,” said Jindal’s campaign spokesman Trey Williams on Jindal’s Web site. “At first her personal attacks on Bobby Jindal were under the radar, now she is blasting them across the airwaves.”
During a Nov. 6 radio debate, Blanco responded to the negative ads from Jindal supporters.
“There have been various groups that have launched attack ads on television, by mail and recorded telephone messages,” Blanco said. “I acted in good faith to the pledge that Bobby and I took, but those ads continued to run, and mailers continue to go out all over attacking me.”
Goidel said most people view negative ads as any type of advertisement that mentions the opponent’s name.
However, Goidel believes there are two ways to perceive negative ads. He said the public can view them as fair negative ads, in which a simple comparison of the two candidates is used, or as unfair negative ads.
“Unfair negative ads are ones that distort a candidate’s record or try to make them guilty by association with another politician,” Goidel said.
So far this election, Goidel only has seen fair negative ads that talk about the other’s past record.
“You cannot understand who you are voting for if you only get political puffery,” Goidel said. “So the public needs to find the background information out.”
Goidel said producing negative ads are a “calculated risk” for candidates because the way they are perceived is unknown.
“There is a potential backlash that is associated with negative ads,” Goidel said. “The ads will either drive up your opponent’s negatives or drive up your negatives.”
The runoff election is Saturday between Jindal and Blanco.