CarolC- I have to respectfully disagree with you when you say that only Republicans run nasty campaigns on the national level. I am going to assume that this is one of those "eye of the beholder" moments.

Do you think that it is not nasty when Democrats (i.e. Gephart, Daschle, Pelosi, etc...) accuse Republicans of wanting to take medication away from the elderly, feed ketchup to school children as lunch (remember THAT one?), balance the budgets on the backs of the poor and more? Or do you see those as statements of fact?

If you see those as statements of fact, please remove the word "Republican" and add in the name of any conservative you wish (me included.) If you say, "But I don't know you... so I don't know your motivation" I would have to say that you're right and you've just proven my point. Nasty politics occur on BOTH sides of the aisle, whether we like it or not. That is the nature of the beast.