More sleazy campaigning

I just received a telephone call which turned out to be a fake poll - from the Nebraska Republican Party. Of course, they don't tell you that, at first. They have to tell you that they paid for the poll, eventually, but it's set up as a real poll - only with terribly slanted questions. By the end of the thing, even the guy hired for this purpose was laughing as he was asking them.

Like that previous instance of sleazy campaigning, this was the Nebraska GOP trying to influence the state legislative race, an officially non-partisan position, in my district. My current state senator, Danielle Conrad, went door-to-door in my neighborhood last April. We talked for quite some time, as she answered my questions.

But the only thing I know about her opponent, besides his name, is that he must be a Republican, since the Nebraska GOP is making such a big effort on his behalf. (Of course, this is basically a one-party state, so they don't need to spend money on partisan races.) From Chad Wright himself, I've heard nothing at all. I've certainly heard nothing about his positions, about how he'd act differently than Conrad. No, it's been nothing but negative campaigning on his behalf by the Republican Party.

I hope this sort of thing isn't rewarded, but I wouldn't be surprised if he won. This is a very red state. People vote Republican because they've always voted Republican, and they believe what they hear on Fox "News." After those eight disastrous years of the Bush Administration, ending in the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, it's hard to believe that anyone still votes Republican. But people aren't that rational, I guess.