One Republican candidate for Congress in Tennessee said his stand on workers' issues is "so far left I make Karl Marx look like the Christian Coalition." According to campaign literature, the candidate also believes in using genetic selection to "improve biologically the quality of future generations."

An open Senate seat in Oklahoma has attracted a GOP physician once accused of sterilizing a patient against her will. He has drawn headlines for favoring the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions. He faces a Democrat who is a Rhodes Scholar who has earned the top rating of the National Rifle Association. The independent candidate is a former high school counselor who claims that the government implanted a small radio receiver in her head in the 1970s and continues to send transmissions just to annoy her.

In Texas, an episode of mass "streaking" at age 18 has come back to haunt the one Republican running for Congress. His opponent's campaign has charged that the Republican "exposed himself to children and strangers." Considering that some 300 college students were part of the same prank, it's curious how one person can be singled out for his misdeeds.

Admittedly, these are some of the more outrageous candidates for elected office in the United States profiled in a recent article by Scripps Howard News Service. But on the whole, I wouldn't trade our bunch of candidates. I just wish they had the capacity to run livelier campaigns. Does anyone have fire in the belly in Utah?

My favorite candidates profiled by Scripps Howard News Service were a Republican and a Democrat running for city council in Madison, Wis. They're campaigning side by side, knocking on the doors of their city council borough in tandem. Democrat Astri Baillie, who is president of the City Council, and GOP Councilman Donald Bowen say they want to rise above the partisan rancor that they believe has infected American politics. Imagine, having the luxury to confront candidates live and in person on your front porch. No spin job, just an opportunity for a candidate to put his or her best foot forward and the chance to rebut an opponent's positions to his or her face.

As much as I'm tired of the politicking, I hope this type of campaigning catches on. Unlike those nasty mailings (grrrr, I got another one today!), this type of campaigning has definite "curb" appeal.

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Marjorie Cortez is a Deseret Morning News editorial writer. E-mail: marjorie@desnews.com.