Campaign Attack Ads The Worst Way To Choose A President

It's getting ugly out on the presidential campaign trail. Attack ads are heating up, so are tempers. And, as usual, few of the attacks are truthful and fudging the facts is raised to an art form. No one knows this better than Republican candidate Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee, who has been surging in the polls for weeks, is taking a pounding in Iowa at the hands of some of the folks who bankrolled the Swift Boat fiasco. A Houston, Texas, home builder, who funded much of the unsubstantiated rumors surrounding the Sen. John Kerry presidential bid, has turned on a Republican. He claims Huckabee was a big spender as governor of Arkansas.

It's true Huckabee spent taxpayer money in Arkansas. He admits this, and has a good reason why he did it. His state was one of the worst in the nation on education, and the state's poor school system was infamous around the nation.

Why is Huckabee drawing these attacks? For starters, he understood that education isn't just reading, writing and arithmetic. Quality education also requires art, music and other important elements to capture young minds and excite them about learning. It keeps young people in school, lowers teen pregnancy rates, provides a better workforce. And it changes lives. There's a price associated with that kind of change, but worth every penny.

Huckabee also saw needs from his state's poorest citizens. He tried to help, and now he's getting barbecued for it.

In the black and white world of political spin, it's simple: he raised taxes. For some people, that's enough to knock him out of consideration for the presidency.

We're not endorsing Huckabee, though. There are plenty of questions about him, and his fundamentalist beliefs don't necessarily mesh with a lot of Americans. What isn't fair, though, is to blast him for doing something good for his state.

As the campaign massacre continues for all candidates, keep in mind that it's never as simple as the campaign ads make it out to be. Forget preconceived notions. Don't listen to attack ads. Seek the truth.

Our country's future depends on voters making good decisions when electing leaders. Look at what they've done and judge yourself. Don't depend on paid spinmeisters or talk-radio idiots to sort it all out. If we do that, we deserve what we get, and that's the last thing our country needs at this crucial juncture.