Published: August 21, 2009 08:23 pm      

To the polls — 08/24/09

Negative campaigns have done little to inspire voters in the district

Voters in Greenup, Carter, Lewis, Mason, Robertson and Bracken counties will go to the polls tomorrow to decide the winner of the 18th District State Senate seat vacated when Sen. Charlie Borders resigned to take a seat on the Public Service Commission. While lasting less than a month, this campaign has attracted such political heavyweights as Gov. Steve Beshear, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, and the two leading candidates have raised enough money to run almost non-stop political ads in the district. One would almost have to have been living in a cave for the last month to not know that this special election is taking place.

Yet, despite all the money raised and all the campaigning candidates have done, only a small percentage of registered voters are expected to cast their ballots Tuesday. Political leaders in both Greenup and Lewis counties are predicting only 10 to 15 percent of registered voters will go to the polls in those two counties, and the turnout may be even lighter in smaller counties like Bracken and Robertson where neither candidate is well known.

One reason for the expected small turnout is that people are not used to going to the polls in August. Another reason is that there is only one race on the ballot, and if one doesn’t have a strong opinion about the candidates, there is little incentive to vote.

However, if 80 or 90 percent of the voters stay home Tuesday, the candidates themselves deserve much of the blame. This has been a particularly negative campaign with both Democrat Robin Webb and Republican Jack Ditty spending as much to tell us why we should vote against their opponents as they have on why we should vote for them.

We personally know both Jack Ditty and Robin Webb, and they are both good, conscientious individuals who have done a lot of positive things in their lives. But you would never know that from listening to and reading some of the ads in this campaign. In fact, you may think they are both scoundrels.

Negative campaigns have become commonplace in this country because politicians and those who run their campaigns are convinced that they work. Maybe they do, but they also turn some would-be voters off. We have had more than one person tell us in recent days that they won’t vote tomorrow because the negative ads have turned them against both Webb and Ditty and they don’t believe Independent candidate Guy E. Gibbons has a chance of winning.

However, we encourage you to vote Tuesday. This race is being viewed as a test of the strength of the two political parties. Beshear and his fellow Democrats clearly see this race as the first step toward taking control of the Senate from the Republicans, while Republicans like McConnell and Davis are just as determined to hold on to this seat.

Regardless of who wins Tuesday, Republicans still will control the Senate, but if Webb wins their hold will be seen as a bit more tenuous. And if a political newcomer like Ditty defeats a 12-year veteran of the House of Representatives like Webb, then the odds of the Democrats taking over the Senate become that much longer.