When all else fails and you have absolutely NOTHING to run on....Sling Dirt!

This is what happens when the Democrats have absolutely NOTHING to run on...they've defied the will of the American People for 19 months now...they've done every underhanded, dirty, corrupt trick they could muster just to pass their bad legislation...there have corrupt back room deals, congressmen bought off, arms twisted and NOW THEY ARE THROWING DIRT AT THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES....TAKE A LOOK IN THE MIRROR!!! Who thinks we trust them????

Democrats' strategy: Start slinging

Negative advertisements have hit the airwaves early as Democratic candidates fight to preserve the party's congressional majority.

By JEFF ZELENY, New York Times

Last update: September 25, 2010 - 6:31 PM

Democratic candidates across the country are opening a fierce offensive of negative advertisements against Republicans, using lawsuits, tax filings, reports from the Better Business Bureau and even divorce proceedings to try to discredit their opponents and save their congressional majority.

Opposition research and attack advertising are deployed in almost every election, but these biting ads are coming far earlier than ever before, according to party strategists. The campaign has intensified in the past two weeks as early voting begins in several states and as vulnerable incumbents try to fight off an onslaught of influences by outside groups.

As they struggle to break through with economic messages, many Democrats are deploying the fruits of a yearlong investigation into the business and personal histories of Republican candidates in an effort to plant doubts about them and avoid having races become a national referendum on the performance of President Obama and his party.

In Ohio, Rep. Betty Sutton calls her Republican rival, Tom Ganley, a "dishonest used-car salesman" who has been sued more than 400 times for fraud, discrimination, lying to customers about repairs, overcharging them and endangering their safety. She warns voters, "You've heard the old saying, buyer beware!"

In Arizona, Rep. Harry Mitchell accused his opponent David Schweikert of being "a predatory real estate speculator who snatched up nearly 300 foreclosed homes, been cited for neglect and evicted a homeowner on the verge of saving his house, just to make a buck."

In New York, Rep. Michael Arcuri introduces his Republican challenger, Richard Hanna, as a millionaire who "got rich while his construction company overcharged taxpayers thousands, was sued three times for injuries caused by faulty construction and was cited 12 times for health and safety violations."

Negative ads can be successful, whether or not they are fair and fully accurate, particularly if they lure an opponent into responding or if they define a political newcomer before he can define himself. But they also carry risks, especially in a year when voters are frustrated about the economy and impatient with politics as usual.

"Our strongest piece of opposition research on Democrats is their voting records," said Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. "While character assassination seems to be the strategy for Democrats this year, the American people are supporting Republican candidates because they are providing an alternative."

A debate has broken out among some Democratic officials about the effectiveness -- or wisdom -- of running such pointedly negative advertisements with five weeks remaining in the campaign.

But party strategists said candidates did not have the luxury of waiting until the final stretch to go negative, particularly if the goal is to localize the races.

"When you're talking about whether an individual really belongs in Congress, you're not talking about the national issues," said Steve McMahon, a Democratic consultant who creates television advertising for several candidates in the party.

He added: "Anytime you get personal in campaign advertising, there's always a risk that it goes too far to be credible or it backfires altogether. That risk is typically mitigated by research that's done in advance to determine the correct tone and what will make the ad credible."

So far, many Republican candidates are defending themselves but not taking the bait by starting their own offensives. A review of television advertisements presented since Labor Day showed that the Republicans were basing theirs almost entirely on the records of Democrats on health care, the economic stimulus package and the first vote the Democrats cast when Congress convened in 2009: for making Nancy Pelosi speaker of the House.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, who leads the Republican recruitment effort in the House, said he warned candidates to conduct their own research before deciding to run so they were not surprised by anything dug up by Democrats.