Green's clean campaign

Ah, how refreshing:

Green vows to run positive campaign

By Charlie Mathews
Herald Times Reporter

MANITOWOC — Gubernatorial candidate Mark Green sought votes and money Friday in the Lakeshore area, while promising to run a clean, positive campaign.

"Politics has to be about giving people something to vote for," said the Republican congressman from Green Bay, who is seeking to unseat incumbent Gov. Jim Doyle.

"Negative ads that are over the top turn people off," Green said of TV commercials he admitted he hasn't seen, but believes do not help either major party gubernatorial candidate.

How convenient that he "hasn't seen" the Steve King-sponsored slime ads portraying Doyle as a crook. [Does Campaign Manager Mark Graul keep him in a bubble?]

If Green really will run only positives, it means he is quite confident that his good buddy, Watergate thug Steve King, and others will do the dirty work.

And, yes, I work for the Greater Wisconsin Committee, which has run some spots criticizing Green's record, but nothing approaching the negative tone and innuendo on the other side. I believe negative ads work if you don't go over the top -- if they are true, fair, and relevant. Suggesting that Jim Doyle is a crook, as Scott McCallum did in 2002 and King & Co. are doing now, is more likely to backfire.

The difference between Mark Green and me is that I am honest about what I think. If Green really thinks the negatives from King & Co. don't help him, he'll tell them to stop. Oh, I forgot. He "hasn't seen" them.