Is negative campaigning an ‘art’?

With the 2006 midterm elections heating up, Americans can expect to be barraged by negative campaign tactics. David Mark, former editor inchief of Campaign and Elections magazine, has written the book “Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006). The Examiner interviewed Mark to get a sense of the role of negative campaigning in modern politics, how it works and how it has evolved.

Q We always hear that political campaigns are so dirty nowadays. But, in many ways, they’re tame compared to elections in early American history. How has negative campaigning evolved over the years? Has it gotten worse? Or better?