CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — So much for Iowa Nice. It’s more like Iowa Nasty.
In a state whose Midwestern civility usually extends to politics, the Republican presidential campaign has become an acerbic affair. Negative ads fill TV and radio.
Attacks are all over the Internet and in material stuffed in mailboxes. Many of the candidates are bashing one another with abandon.
It’s a reflection of the crowded GOP field and the volatile race to emerge as the Republican challenger to President Barack Obama in November. To the dismay of many voters, it’s also probably only going to get worse when there are fewer candidates and the contest moves to New Hampshire, South Carolina and beyond.
“If they go negative, they aren’t getting my vote,” said Ginger Allsup, a 45-year-old Oskaloosa bakery worker.
Only three candidates typically make it out of the Iowa caucuses with enough momentum and money to continue. Polls show that most hopefuls are bunched tightly behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Desperate to break from the pack, they’re whacking away in hopes of sinking opponents and wooing undecided voters.
Usually, presidential candidates and their allies take care to be congenial in Iowa, which has a record of rewarding candidates who stay above the fray. Iowa is different this year.
It’s partly because of a Supreme Court decision that allowed unions, corporations and individuals to spend unlimited amounts of money to advocate for the election or defeat of candidates. As a result, new outside groups, known as super PACs (political action committees), that are aligned with the candidates sprang up. These groups have paid for an avalanche of hard-hitting TV and radio ads, as well as aggressive literature in mailboxes and harsh messages online.
What about the candidates? They’re hardly holding their tongues. Sometimes, they’re using language that Republicans often reserve for Democrats.
“She doesn’t like Muslims, she hates them, she wants to go get ’em,” Texas Rep. Ron Paul said about Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.
“Dangerous” is how Bachmann described Paul’s foreign policy.
Asked about Newt Gingrich’s failure to get on the Virginia primary ballot, Romney likened the former House speaker’s political operations to an out-of-control chocolate factory from a half-century-old “I Love Lucy” episode.
“Cute” was Gingrich’s reply.
There’s a reason candidates are assailing each other: It can work.
Consider Gingrich’s up-and-down December. He was flying high in polls at the start of the month. Then he was pounded by at least $4 million in negative TV ads in Iowa, most run by Romney allies and some by Paul’s campaign. The ads cited both personal flaws and professional missteps.
“I had been leaning toward Newt,” said Jean Fredsall, 67, a retired social worker from Cedar Rapids. “But then I was reminded of his baggage.”
But negative advertising also can backfire. In 2004, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and then-Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt were the front-runners to win the Democratic nomination. Looking to seal the deal, each ran blistering ads just before Iowa voted. Both ended up losing voters and the nomination.
