Dayton calls for positive campaign ads
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DFL gubernatorial nominee Mark Dayton is calling on all outside political organizations to stop running TV ads that include negative, personal attacks against candidates.
Dayton made his proposal today (Thursday) at a State Capitol news conference, just one day after the state Republican party unveiled an anti-Dayton ad. Dayton did not call on GOP leaders to end that ad, but going forward, he said the content should stick to the issues.
"Whatever those of us have said or done ,or not said or not done, on the public record as public officials or in our capacity working in the public arena is certainly appropriate for anybody to question or criticize," Dayton said. "But I think my two opponents are decent men, and I will treat them as such. And I think that's the kind of campaign that Minnesotans deserve."
Republican party leaders rejected Dayton's proposal. They called him hypocritical for not previously denouncing an anti-Tom Emmer ad run by an advocacy group that includes several Dayton family members on its donor list.
Independence Party candidate Tom Horner agrees with Dayton. In a news release, Horner said he wants the campaign focused on solutions.
"We need to re-engage the majority of Minnesotans who have been pushed to the sidelines by the extremist politics of the other parties," Horner said.
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