After an election season that appeared it would never end, the past two weeks have been incredibly joyful.

No campaign smears about who doesn’t live in what legislative district.

No sniping about who’s out of touch, who’s out of the mainstream, who’s a radical, who’s an extremist, who’s a socialist or who’s a fascist.

And certainly no character assaults via “guilt by association” tactics.

It’s been wonderful not having to watch one political attack ad after another on television. I’ve also enjoyed reading articles focusing on what incoming lawmakers want to do during their time in office rather than what catastrophe awaits the nation if their opponent won the election.

Political operatives routinely defend negative advertising as a way of pointing out uncomfortable truths about rival candidates. And to some extent, they’re right. If someone who’s running for elective office has a few skeletons in their closet, disclosure of these facts serves voters better.

So I’m not suggesting that negative ads have no place in a campaign. But their place shouldn’t be at the core of our electoral process.

Many political candidates today spend at least as much time trying to destroy their opponents as they do attempting to promote their credentials. They believe they can’t win unless they demonstrate what a horrible ne’er-do-well the other guy in the election is and how sorry voters will be to support him or her.

The 6th Congressional District race between Jill Morgenthaler of Des Plaines and U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam of Wheaton was a good example.

Morgenthaler blasted Roskam for not supporting the Bush administration’s $700 billion bailout plan. Given that the U.S. Department of the Treasury doesn’t really know what banks are doing with all the money they’ve been allotted through the legislation, Roskam’s opposition to it now seems prudent.

Conversely, Roskam made a big deal about how Morgenthaler doesn’t live in the 6th District. Seeing that Des Plaines borders the district, Morgenthaler isn’t exactly an outsider.

After watching candidates spend month after month ripping apart their opponents, we reward them with their dream job. And then we wonder why we always have such dismal leadership in government.

Politics must be more than a blood sport — and campaigns should bring the best out of people, not the worst. Is this too much to ask?

Jerry Moore is a news editor with Suburban Life Publications and can be contacted at jmoore@mysuburbanlife.com. His blog, Suburban Shoutout, can be found at www.mysuburbanlife.com.