... Mitt Romney's blistering ads criticizing Mike Huckabee and John McCain drew sharp rebukes from their targets and wary responses from voters ...
... The ad shows Huckabee, during his unflattering obese years, trying to persuade the Arkansas legislature to raise some taxes. It doesn't mention that he lowered many others. Huckabee fought back Saturday ...
Luckily, it's only the Republican side that's doing the attack ad routine and it's going over badly with voters.
... "I think they're ridiculous," said Gerrit Branderhorst, a Republican retiree from Pella and a Huckabee supporter. "Why run somebody down so bad when it's really not true?"
Keith Ervin, a Republican car dealer in Vinton, Iowa, who's leaning toward McCain, said: "I don't like the name-calling. I don't do it to my competitors and I don't like them to do it to me. I think it probably changed Romney from my first choice to my second."
Bonita Davis, a Democrat from Independence, agreed: "Whoever's got the most negative ads is going to lose my vote."
The two Democratic front-runners, Obama and Clinton, are sticking to negative-free campaigning. [Whistling a happy little tune...]
