For the children

Oh, Davey, is in fine form this morning.

A few weeks ago, I interviewed Deborah Pryce, the Republican congresswoman, in her Washington office. There was a doll propped up against a windowsill, and I wanted to ask her if it had belonged to her daughter, who died of cancer at age 9 in 1999. But that question seemed to trespass on something out of bounds, so I asked about her re-election campaign in 2006.

But it's not so far out of bounds that he can't mention it to lead off his column about how mean Democrats are forcing good, kind Republican Congressman to run ads their mom's are ashamed of.

When Pryce spoke about the direct-mail letters that went out under her name, she did so with a look of disgust. She said that her friends kept coming to her to complain about the TV ads she was running against her opponent. Finally, her own mother told her she was ashamed of the ads.

The truth is, Pryce’s opponents did worse. But it was her own ads that she kept dwelling on, and as she spoke, I could see that she’d been fighting the war that the best politicians fight — the war within herself to preserve her own humanity.

Um, right.

Now, a short look at You Tube's Debra Pryce collection turns up little in the way of particularly nasty, Willie Horton-like assassinations. My opponent wants to raise taxes is hardly new. And, of course, I can't find the direct-mail piece that so disgusted the candidate who, no doubt, was required to indicate she'd "approved this message," so I can't judge.

Perhaps, it was her eagerness last fall to run away from her own party's leadership that makes her feel bad.

But Davey says her opponent "did worse." Let's see, running (humorous, silly) ads against an incumbent's votes is, among gentlemen, simply not done.



So, Davey, where's the "worse?" This?