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Voters say no to two negative campaigns

The real surprise in the Florida election Tuesday was that more people didn't vote. Considering there was a competitive governor's contest, a significant change to the state Constitution on the ballot and a full legislative and congressional slate, the polls should have been packed. Instead, statewide voter turnout was well below 50 percent, the lowest since 1962.

Even seething resentment over the homeowners insurance crisis and rising property tax burden didn't bring voters out. You could blame the rain that swept through the state, or maybe it was rampant negative campaigning that turned voters off.

On the latter point, people who did vote apparently rejected personal attack ads. Two races in the Tampa Bay area illustrate that positive development.

One of the more mean-spirited campaigns was run by Kim Berfield, Republican candidate for state Senate District 16 that stretches from St. Petersburg to Tampa. Ads tried to portray her Democratic opponent, Charlie Justice, as hostile to children's health, safety and education. Several mailings on Berfield's behalf used images that were themselves exploitative of children's innocence.

Anyone who met Justice for even a few minutes knew better. A soft-spoken, bespectacled educator and adoring father, Justice comes across as too nice for politics, if anything. Voters didn't buy the smear, sending Berfield to defeat in a district with a slight Republican edge.

The tactic backfired in the House District 52 race, too, where the campaign of Republican Angelo Cappelli quickly turned negative. Mailers portrayed Democrat Bill Heller as a "nutty professor" and implied (falsely) that he was demoted as dean of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg for financial mismanagement.

The dirt didn't stick because many voters in the north St. Petersburg district knew Heller as a compassionate administrator and tireless volunteer in his community. Instead, the attacks reflected badly on Cappelli, and Heller won the race more comfortably than many expected.

There were other reasons why those races turned out as they did. But if negative campaigning suffered a setback because of such defeats, it would be a blessing for voters and democracy alike.

[Last modified November 9, 2006, 01:32:01]