The American Way: Find a Candidate to Vote Against

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http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-mcenteer27sep27.story

The American Way: Find a Candidate to Vote Against
By James McEnteer
James McEnteer is the author of "Deep in the Heart: The Texas Tendency in American Politics" (Praeger, 2004).

September 27, 2004

Like many other Americans, I find it easier to vote against a candidate than for one.

Recently, I saw a documentary film that illustrated my civic dilemma. "A Perfect Candidate" chronicled the 1994 race for the U.S. Senate in Virginia. The incumbent Democrat, Charles Robb, had lied about his affair with a teenage girl while governor, and about his use of cocaine.

Robb's Republican opponent was Oliver North, who had admitted lying to Congress about his treasonous Iran-Contra deals. The film showed his public confession of perjury during the televised congressional hearings on the matter, then caught him lying to Virginia schoolchildren during the campaign, denying that he had lied earlier. North continued to insist that he was proud of his role in Iran-Contra. These two morally challenged candidates were virtually tied in the polls.

As one Virginia voter put it, having to choose between Robb and North was like choosing between "the flu or the mumps. The real question is when we'll find a cure for what's wrong with American politics."

Robb won, leading North's campaign manager, Mark Goodin, to conclude that he had not run a negative enough race. Not a pretty picture but, unfortunately, not exceptional in American politics.<snip>