Doug Robinson: Election cycle an ugly one this year

In Connecticut, Republican Linda McMahon produced a TV ad that showed a clip of Democratic Senate nominee Richard Blumenthal commenting about "the days that I served in Vietnam." The comment was discredited two years ago. McMahon, the former World Wrestling Entertainment executive, found herself the target of media reports that her wrestling business had worked with a company that produces the "Girls Gone Wild" videos.

House Democrats claimed that eight Republican hopefuls around the country had "disturbing backgrounds and legal problems."

Rhode Island Democratic gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio announced that President Obama could "shove it" for refusing to endorse him.

In California, the gubernatorial race between Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown has been ugly. Brown's campaign attacked Whitman for not telling the truth about how long she lived in California and for getting caught in insider deals and for changing "her story about physically abusing an employee" and for hiring a housekeeper who is an illegal alien.

Then, a recording surfaced in which Brown asks if they should produce an ad about Whitman's pension plan. A staffer replies, "What about saying she's a whore?"

During a debate, Brown apologized for the "whore" comment but countered by asking if Whitman had reprimanded her campaign chairman Pete Wilson, who suggested members of Congress were "whores (to public opinion)."

Civility and class have taken a vacation. During another debate, moderator Matt Lauer called for a truce and asked both candidates to drop all negative ads. The candidates couldn't work out the terms and refused.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was on stage with Brown and Whitman that night. He should have clunked their heads together like the Three Stooges.

Doug Robinson's column runs on Tuesdays. E-mail drob@desnews.com