So, what would I do to make the next campaign better? Well, let’s see…

First off I would force spin doctors only to talk about their candidate. Now if they want to slam their own candidate that is fine by me, it will be the last time we see the witless fool, but no talking about the other guy. Seriously, when you ask these guys anything about their guy, they can’t answer or change the subject. I truly love it when Chris Mathews corners one these guys till he has to answer and in the end he simply can’t because he hasn’t a clue… that’s fun but I would give it up in a heartbeat for straight forward spin that doesn’t stink of mud and slime.

Second would be to do something about campaign advertising. Once again we come into the territory of spin so the same rules apply. Ads should only highlight the virtues and accomplishments and plans and visions of the candidate. That should remove a lot of the stink from the campaigns.

Three: smear and trash talk can be limited to the stump speeches. Why? Will if you want to rile your base, go ahead, but we as viewers are not generally your base and for our sakes you can keep that talk to a live venue. The stuff that does make it on the news we can deal with, but if the spin doctors are tamed, and the ads are pacified I would bet the stump speeches will not be as bad either because then the speeches will be out of context with the rest of the message. Sure it may go over well in the Convention Speeches, but then again, those speeches are meant to be different anyway.

Four… Want to sling mud, fine, do it in press releases. However (and you knoew there had to be a however) all claims must be accompanied by the triple veried sources that can in turn be veried by independent journalist. If a press release does not conform or the information is deemed to be wrong or unverifiable there should be a fine… say $1000. For each success inaccuracy the fine is doubled. The fine can go to a charity of the opposing candidate’s choice. In the case of multiple candidates, it is split and funds distributed. Fines come from the candidate’s general fund.

Five: No government sponsored campaigning. All candidates must raise their own funds. I know that sounds unfair to the third party candidates, but if you are serious as a third party candidate you would have to eat into their (the Dems and Reps) base anyway, thus garnering their funds. See, it is fair after all. Basically I do not want to pay for supporting failed candidates and campaigns. I don’t want to pay for any of these leaches dinners, much less their beach houses. If they want the job, they need to do it on their own without my help. Personally I think these campaigns are a huge waste of time. I would love to see several televised debates, articles in the paper and web, and of course the old whistle stop tours would be good. As long as we are not spending money on something that does not pay for itself. I do not see the value gained by having huge campaigns, not in a land that has information so freely available.

So there you have it… 5 suggestions to make our lives less stressful and more successful. You think they will do any of them?