The Bad News About Election Day: It Never Ends

I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I know we all want the election madness to end – at least those of us who are not political consultants, pollsters, potential candidates, and reporters – but it’s not over on Tuesday.

In fact, it’s just beginning. Because Election Day no longer decides anything: It’s merely the dividing line between one political campaign and the next.

And what’s worse, elections are no longer about policy or about determining the future of the country. Instead they have become one of two things: either a referendum on President Trump or a verdict on whose ads were most effective in destroying the opposition candidate.

Let’s skin the last skunk first. Political advertising as a general rule is the reason decent American citizens all despise politics, the dark art of getting elected.

Dirty ads are nothing new. We all remember the Willie Horton ad that helped get George H.W. Bush elected president over Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1988, and there are numerous other examples through the years, including LBJ’s famous “Daisy” ad that aired only once in linking his opponent to the threat of nuclear war.

But in general, dirty ads used to be a relatively small part of a campaign, held in reserve as a last desperate measure to save a flailing campaign or a single kill shot to disable a flailing opponent permanently. Not anymore. These days, with the addition of named but virtually anonymous Super PACs in the mix, the dirty ads air continuously from Labor Day till Election Day with one aim only: to damage, undermine, and ultimately destroy the reputation of the opposition candidate.

Here in Montana, it wasn’t unusual in years past for candidates to run dignified campaigns that stressed issues and positive values. But those days may be over. And we’ll find out on Election Day whether dirty politics pays off.

The campaign of Democrat Sam Forstag for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Ryan Zinke has been nothing but disgusting. The advertising being run on his behalf has smeared Republican candidate Aaron Flint with reckless disregard for the truth. One of the ads essentially asks, “Why do you think they call him For Sale Flint?” They don’t bother to answer, so I will. They call him that because Forstag’s supporters are making the claim without evidence.

Oh sure, the ads are well made and will probably convince some voters that Aaron Flint is corrupt, but there is no evidence other than that he takes campaign contributions from companies that Forstag opposes. But accepting lawful campaign contributions is not evidence that a candidate is for sale, and never has been. In my opinion, such ads making baseless claims ought to disqualify the candidate they are backing. At the very least they ought to make voters wary of candidates who manipulate voters with demagogic rhetoric and empty words.

Has Aaron Flint responded in kind? To an extent, yes, by pointing out that Forstag is not just a smokejumper as he portrays himself, but also a paid lobbyist for left-wing groups such as the ACLU. But Flint’s ads were launched well after Forstag’s started airing, and thank goodness they were, because without firing back Flint would have been allowing his opponent to gain the upper hand by taking the low road. And here’s the key difference: Forstag’s ads are guessing about Flint’s supposed future behavior, whereas Flint’s ads are just stating facts about Forstag’s actual past behavior.

So, yes, I will be glad when Election Day has come and gone, but I’m not so naive as to believe that the vitriol will subside when it’s Nov. 4.

The partisan divide has become seemingly unbridgeable, and no matter what the results are on Tuesday, the temptation by politicians (and yes, by the rest of us) to paint political opponents as motivated by greed or stupidity will continue unabated. Nothing will change. If Republicans lose seats, Democrats will proclaim that America has repudiated Trump. If Republicans gain seats, Trump will claim vindication. And if the results are mixed, both parties will somehow manage to declare victory.

So when you are watching the election returns Tuesday night, consider this: Maybe it’s about time we think about what kind of results we want to see beyond who wins and who loses. Those are important, but even more important is restoring dignity to the electoral process itself.

It’s not corrupt politicians we need to worry about; it’s a corrupt system that encourages division, discord, and deceit. And it won’t go away unless voters stop rewarding the tactics they profess to despise.

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.