Something Wicked This Way Comes

Oct. 31 won’t mark the end of frightful things. Around here, it might be the beginning. Smear campaigns aimed at blasting a political foe without adequate time to rebut are nothing new, but with municipal elections more heated than any we remember, this election season might set a record for ugliness. In recent days we’ve seen personal attacks in the comments section of cdapress.com that go well beyond fair criticism. A number of alleged “facts” are also false, raising the stakes unwisely and unnecessarily. We also have seen the seeds of not-so-subtle harassment being sowed. The anonymous commenter who listed the personal properties owned by one candidate and also provided the name, address and phone number of one of that candidate’s children was stunned when she learned that she’d been banned from the website. That’s how far the disconnect has grown for some bloggers who might or might not also be working for specific campaigns. Civility? Apparently, some people don’t understand the meaning of the word. That or they just don’t care/ Coeur d’Alene Press Editorial Board . More here.

Question: Is the 2013 Coeur d’Alene city elections the most heated local one in your memory? Or (for oldtimers here) does it fail to reach the level of intensity of the Mitchell-Amaro judicial race a few years back?