Insults abound in 2010 campaigns

[BridgeTheGap]

WASHINGTON – Name-calling is a winner this campaign season. By a landslide.

In Illinois, dueling political wordsmiths long ago cast the Senate race as a choice between a "mob banker" and a "serial liar."

The rivals are more generally known as Alexi Giannoulias, the Democrat, and Rep. Mark Kirk, the Republican. One of them will soon trade in his label for another: the distinguished senator from Illinois.

Then there's Connecticut, and a statement the Democratic National Committee sent around referring to the Republican Senate candidate as Linda "crotch-kicker" McMahon. Asked about his choice of words, spokesman Brad Woodhouse said in an e-mail: "Well — her opponent ran that ad ... showing her doing it." She is a former executive of World Wrestling Entertainment.

In the current election environment, calling an opponent extreme evidently isn't sufficient. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's latest television commercial attacks Republican challenger Sharron Angle as "too extreme."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_political_name_calling;_ylt=AoxKYQADVk9ckQj2dG4ORuOs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTN0dDAzdDg2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwODE2L3VzX3BvbGl0aWNhbF9uYW1lX2NhbGxpbmcEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwM3BHBvcwM0BHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5faGVhZGxpbmVfbGlzdARzbGsDaW5zdWx0c2Fib3Vu

[Raschel]

1. We can thank Palin for lowering the bar with her national hate mongering campaign.