Then, why don't they?

The presidential campaigns continue to slog along with intermittent moments of substance and endless hours of childish bickering and accusations.

Now, the two Republican front-runners are fighting over their wives and how they have been treated. One is accusing another of getting sleazy tabloid stories published. A campaign manager has been charged with assault.

It is a new low, and nearly every candidate has been subjected to some dirt.

The media, especially televised media, reports it all. The tone often is not that of disseminating serious information to the electorate, but of gleeful gossi...