When the 2014 election is over, some people will be happy with the results and others will not. But it seems as though most people will be thrilled with one event: the end of political ad season.
“Thank God they’re coming to an end,” said Carl Hertting, as he finished his lunch at the Mint Cafe — a gathering place in downtown Wausau for more than 120 years.
“They just are absolutely disgusting,” he continued. “Money in politics is distorting our democratic system.”
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At the next table, Dolores Haas-Folz said she was looking forward to Wednesday, when the ads would finally end.
“I’m glad they’re coming to an end, because some of them are just a bunch of lies. And I don’t appreciate that,” she said.
Bob Kretlow, another cafe patron, was back in his old hometown of Wausau after moving to North Carolina, where there’s a tough Senate race this year.
“These people were soliciting some billionaires, and I thought it was just in our state of North Carolina. And then I went to Virginia, and then I came here,” he said, chuckling.
If the negative ads are designed to suppress voter turnout, it’s working with Phyllis Michlig, who said she’s “had enough.”
“All they do is run each other down,” she said. “That’s why I’m not voting.”
On Wednesday morning, it will all be over: the political ads will be gone, and politicians and consultants will begin to craft the next round of negative ads for 2016.
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