Race turns dirty

So much for a high-minded, issues-driven gubernatorial campaign.

With Labor Day still on the horizon, the race for Indiana’s top spot has plunged into the mud.

In case you’ve missed the latest round of stupidity, both Gov. Joe Kernan and Republican challenger Mitch Daniels have now acknowledged using marijuana 30 to 35 years ago. That’s right, more than three decades ago.

It’s difficult to imagine an issue less relevant to the future of the state of Indiana.

Lapses of judgment by college students and young people in the military are hardly uncommon, but they have virtually no bearing upon either candidate’s ability to lead state government.

In this case, the issue popped up when Democrats resurrected a college-age drug arrest by Daniels when he was a student at Princeton in 1970.

Daniels had previously acknowledged the arrest, had undergone an extensive FBI background check prior to serving in the Bush White House, and even wrote about his mistakes in an op-ed piece published in The Washington Post 15 years ago.

In other words, it was not just a dead horse, it was a petrified one.

And, of course, when the issue was raised, the governor himself had to admit to having smoked marijuana when he was in his 20s as well.

Not to diminish the importance of America’s drug laws, but none of this has any bearing on which candidate would be the better governor.

It’s only a pointless distraction, cynical, manipulative, and exactly the sort of campaign behavior that turns off voters.

Indiana deserves better. Indiana deserves an honest debate about its future. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]