Congressional Races Getting Positively Negative

WASHINGTON - The United States has another nationwide contest in 2012, the battle for Congress, and it's getting down and dirty.

In the Senate race in Arizona, the Republican congressman Jeff Flake is facing an unexpectedly strong challenge from Dr. Richard H. Carmona, the former surgeon general and a military combat veteran. Rep. Flake put out a TV ad last week charging that his opponent has anger problems in interacting with women. The ad quotes a former superior as saying Dr. Carmona banged on the door of her house in the middle of the night.

Dr. Carmona says the accusation is “a work of fiction,” charging that the person in the ad is a partisan Republican who was caught lying on her résumé.

In Florida, Senator Bill Nelson, the incumbent Democrat, has a commercial that suggests his opponent, Congressman Connie Mack, lacks the right temperament for the Senate: “A promoter for Hooters, with a history of bar-room brawling, altercations and road r age, a big spender with a trail of debts, liens and unpaid bills.”

“Even if it were all true, and it's not, who cares?” Mr. Mack responded in his own ad.

In closely contested Senate races, like those in Florida, Wisconsin, Nevada, Connecticut and especially Indiana, commercials are overwhelmingly negative, according to Kantar Media's CMAG, which monitors advertising. (Presidential races go predictably negative, too, which I discuss in my latest Letter from Washington.)

House races aren't as visible but can be even dirtier.

In Florida, the latest ad for the Tea Party incumbent Republican, Allen B. West, focuses on a decade-old bar brawl that involved his Democratic opponent, who was then a teenager. The Democratic candidate's father ran a commercial depicting a caricature of Mr. West punching out two old
ladies, while criticizing his votes on Medicare.

Politico, a Washington political newspaper, recently compiled a list of the
10 n astiest House races. No. 2 was the California contest between two
Democratic congressmen, Howard L. Berman and Brad Sherman. At a debate the day after the article, a security guard had to separate them after Mr. Sherman threatened to take a swing at his opponent.