Bob Franken

It’s a platitude we hear about politics all the time: Negative campaigns should be avoided. I don’t know how to break this to everybody, but at this point in our history, it’s nearly all negative. Let’s face it, we rarely vote for candidates. Normally, we cast our ballot against them.

No wonder. As often as not, it’s a choice between bad and worse — or worst, if there’s a third party involved. Of course, this year it’s really about choices ... 468 of them: 435 in the House of Representatives, 33 in the Senate. But it’s also a singular decision that Americans will make about President Barack Ob...