A common and despicable tactic used in campaigns by candidates of both parties is to launch new and often dishonest attacks on their opponents in the final days of a campaign when that opponent does not have the time to be able to respond effectively. (See, e.g., Democrat Sonny Stallings’ defeat of incumbent Republican Joe Canada for State Senate in Virginia Beach in 1987.)
Mike Farris was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 1993 and lost to Democrat car dealer Don Beyer. Mike’s comment today, on the eve of the Iowa Caucuses, about last-minute campaign attacks bears sharing:
Having been a statewide candidate, and having a great deal of experience in helping campaigns, I would urge people to generally ignore last minute attacks on the character of any candidate. If such information was worthy of consideration, it should have been out in public long ago. People who use last minute character attacks say far more negative things about themselves than the people they are attacking.
