The GOP Senate primary in Rhode Island has taken a nasty turn with one of those untraceable sort of groups that pop up every election year and miraculously have loads of money to spend targeting candidates with negative media. The organization, "Common Sense 2006" is responsible for a push poll asking voters if they will support Lincoln Chafee as a pro-choice candidate. If they say yes they are then treated to a graphic description of an abortion, called baby killers and unpatriotic.

These are the tactics of the radical right. This is how they campaign and this is how they govern. No one who has paid attention to politics for the last 30 years is surprised. What is surprising, is that these tactics still work, that the mainstream media remains inept at exposing them, and that the media seems "shocked" when the same things happen every two years in different races, with different groups around the country. Reporting them as "dirty tricks" only reinforces the message that sponsors want to send: politics is dirty.

Chaffee's socially conservative, anti-choice opponent, Stephen Laffey, denies any connection to the calls.

I worked on a Kansas Senate race in 1996 when Bob Dole resigned to devote attention to his presidential race. Jill Docking, the Democratic nominee, was attacked in the final days of that campaign by calls into rural areas that were clearly anti-Semitic, asking, "would you vote for Jill Docking if you knew she was Jewish?"

Those calls, and a series of ads on TV were paid for by Triad Management Services, whose leaders were deposed in anticipation of Congressional Hearings. Triad contracted with a series of nefarious organizations like Common Sense 2006 with names that sound so reasonable, but whose tactics destroy the fabric of our democracy.

Senator Sam Brownback, the winner of that 1996 race, also claimed he had nothing to do with those ads, though his own ads coincidentally also used Jill's maiden name emphasizing her heritage. A Senate Committee scheduled to investigate Triad cancelled hearings once Brownback secured a seat on the committee.

These push polls and ads from outside organizations always get reported just days before the election, with too little time for reporters to properly investigate and expose.

The GOP has made it clear they intend to make this one of the nastiest elections in memory. Karl Rove has been busy since being cleared from his indictment.

Americans always say they are tired of negative advertising and candidates pledge to keep things positive – like Sen. George Allen, who pledged a positive campaign in one breath and without missing a beat launched a racial slur that was a real knee slapper for the Allen supporters in attendance.

In close races, people "in the biz" know that these push polls, the politics of personal destruction, and negativity all serve one purpose …. they make infrequent voters, independents and moderates not want to participate in the political process, so they stay home. Fewer moderate voters means that zealots who vote how they are told to on single issues have a dispropotionate influence on election day.

Despite the public statements that the GOP is trying to help its more moderate members, the party can't stop the rabid tactics of its ideological base, even if they really wanted to.

Why is it that the nastiest tactics always come from the most rabidly pro-life candidates and supporters? Those who wave the flag the highest, seem bent on dragging democracy through the mud. Here's hoping Rhode Islanders speak up against these tactics tomorrow.