Local pols do it the right way

Just what in the name of Kenneth Corn is going on here?

We had six Democratic candidates running for the house seat.
Yes! That should be good for a little fighting, slapping and old-fashioned mud slinging!

Right? Uh, not really.

Matt Webb, James Lockhart, Jake Leming, Traci Barnes, Jarrod Ridenour and David Hogan were on their best behavior during the campaign, for the most part.

The only controversy, if you would even consider it to be controversy, was the challenge filed by Webb and Leming over Barnes’ residency filing. It was decided that Barnes could file using her address at the hotel.

That should have got some blood boiling and name calling going, eh? If it did, I never heard it.

But surely as the primary election neared all that nicey nicey stuff would go away, right? Drats, no. All the candidates acted like grown up, respectable citizens, sort of like the kind of person you would want to represent our area in the House.

You probably know by now that Webb got the most votes in the primary with Lockhart second. Those two will be in the runoff election on Aug. 24. Mano-o-mano, head-to-head! At last, the mud would start slinging!

Yeah, right. Here is what Webb said about his opponent: “James ran a really good race. He worked really hard. He and his family did a good job and James is a good candidate.”

Huh? A candidate praising his opponent?

Well…good for him, and the other candidates.
It was also a surprise for Lockhart.

“Yeah, it was really pretty neat,” he said. “When I decided to run I thought I’d need to have really thick skin. But it was really clean for the most part. It was very humbling.”

Hmm, perhaps candidates for larger elections could learn a lesson from our locals. It is not necessary to use name calling and mud slinging tactics in elections. State your qualifications and why you are the better candidate without resorting to saying your opponent is not worth a puddle of tobacco spit and lower than a worm.

Think that would happen in a race involving congressional candidates, governor or president? Not hardly. But it would be good to hear, say, President Obama describing Jeb Bush as a “good, hard-working candidate” like Webb said about Lockhart.

Wouldn’t it? I think so.