As the campaign winds down, the candidates are sparing no expense. Not just on advertising, but making sure voters know their opponents aren't fit to hold office.
In what was supposed to be a quiet election year, Hampton Roads has seen a huge amount of money pumped into political ads.
In 2007, candidates spent 2.8 million dollars on races for the state House and Senate. This year, that number is 5.3 million dollars.
While Bob Mcdonnell and Creigh Deeds account for about 2 million of that, the rest is from 22 candidates in 12 house races, and gloves have been off for a while.
The one thing you'll notice about the ads is this: "I think it's pretty cut throat, a lot of don't trust this man, don't trust this woman."
"I thought they were a little nasty, digging at each other."
As the race enters its last few hours, candidates are flooding the airwaves with ads. Many of them aren't telling you to vote for them, just against the other guy. At least that's what voters like Regina Sullivan think.
"I am not impressed. I think that they all seem to find something negative and twist it in a way that is not very truthful."
It used to be that to get elected you just needed to stick out a few signs and visit a civic league. Not any more. The folks who spoke to NewsChannel 3 say they have noticed more and more candidates running TV commercials and more and more of them are negative.
Take the race in Isle of Wight County between Bill Barlow and Stan Clark. Not only are they attacking each other they are doing it on an hourly basis.
According to campaign documents, Barlow spent just $19,000 on his campaign in 2007, this year he has spent more than $255,000. Much of his money has come from the state democratic party.
Stan Clark has spent $237,000, much of it from the state republican party.
"I didn't realize that, except for the Governor and Lt. Governor, how many more there were going to be. I didn't expect that."
The reason for all the ads is because Virginia is now a battle ground state as republicans try and take back the state that's now mostly under democratic control. Will going negative work?
"The more negative the ad, the less likely I am to vote."
Of course no one ever admits to believing those negative ads but our unscientific survey found something interesting. The folks we talked to say the negative ads made them go and research what the candidates mean instead of just taking the word of the commercial.
"At first they were but then when I saw they were attacking each other equally I figured I would go look at them for myself."
Shannon Hembrey said she used that motivation to get some real answers about what the candidates in her district would do, if elected. Now the candidates just hope she likes what she found.
In what was supposed to be a quiet election year, Hampton Roads has seen a huge amount of money pumped into political ads.
In 2007, candidates spent 2.8 million dollars on races for the state House and Senate. This year, that number is 5.3 million dollars.
While Bob Mcdonnell and Creigh Deeds account for about 2 million of that, the rest is from 22 candidates in 12 house races, and gloves have been off for a while.
The one thing you'll notice about the ads is this: "I think it's pretty cut throat, a lot of don't trust this man, don't trust this woman."
"I thought they were a little nasty, digging at each other."
As the race enters its last few hours, candidates are flooding the airwaves with ads. Many of them aren't telling you to vote for them, just against the other guy. At least that's what voters like Regina Sullivan think.
"I am not impressed. I think that they all seem to find something negative and twist it in a way that is not very truthful."
It used to be that to get elected you just needed to stick out a few signs and visit a civic league. Not any more. The folks who spoke to NewsChannel 3 say they have noticed more and more candidates running TV commercials and more and more of them are negative.
Take the race in Isle of Wight County between Bill Barlow and Stan Clark. Not only are they attacking each other they are doing it on an hourly basis.
According to campaign documents, Barlow spent just $19,000 on his campaign in 2007, this year he has spent more than $255,000. Much of his money has come from the state democratic party.
Stan Clark has spent $237,000, much of it from the state republican party.
"I didn't realize that, except for the Governor and Lt. Governor, how many more there were going to be. I didn't expect that."
The reason for all the ads is because Virginia is now a battle ground state as republicans try and take back the state that's now mostly under democratic control. Will going negative work?
"The more negative the ad, the less likely I am to vote."
Of course no one ever admits to believing those negative ads but our unscientific survey found something interesting. The folks we talked to say the negative ads made them go and research what the candidates mean instead of just taking the word of the commercial.
"At first they were but then when I saw they were attacking each other equally I figured I would go look at them for myself."
Shannon Hembrey said she used that motivation to get some real answers about what the candidates in her district would do, if elected. Now the candidates just hope she likes what she found.
