Election Strangeness

Okay, so I am spending time in this wonderful country south of the 49th parallel. And I'm confused. I guess there is this big mid-term election coming up in November. So I am sitting here watching daytime TV (switching between The View and Maury) and these commercials keep coming on that intrigue me. They are election commercials. But instead of going on about all their election promises, and defining their platform, they have ads that just cut down their oppenent. It seems like an odd sort of tactic. I always thought you'd want to get your name out there so ppl would recognize it and vote for it. Rather they have gone the opposite way and have ppl associate names with DO NOT VOTE FOR. Seems like an ass backwards concept. So negative. I just saw this commercial going on about how this person has voted against raising minimum wage 10 times, he has made the largest cuts to student funding but has given billions to oil/gas companies. he votes the same as bush on EVERYTHING, even when it isn't good for Iowa. He is running. But he can't hide. Lame.