I have often been encouraged to run for public office, some friends and acquaintances asking not if, but when I will seek to become an elected official. (I know that this statement will elicit groans from my many Patch detractors and anonymous snipers.) After witnessing first-hand the ugly, hateful, despicable nature of partisan politics, I do not know that it is a cesspool in which I could happily exist despite my strong desire to make our area and state better places to live.

Two decent and good men are running against each other for an open seat in the 37^th State Senatorial District, Republican D. Raja and Democrat Matt Smith.

I have expressed on these pages my disdain for the negative campaign being run and initiated by Raja, fueled in large part by the slimy State Republican Committee, but Representative Smith has now soiled his hands, currently airing condescending television spots devoted primarily to attacking Raja, alleging that he has outsourced jobs to India and failed to pay his employees the minimum wage.

I do not know whether Raja has sent jobs he created in the United States to India or whether he has violated Minimum Wage Law, but I know that because of him, jobs exist both here and in India. Raja is precisely the type of individual we need in America and he is a wonderful role model of hard work and success. Surely my friend, Matt Smith, recognizes this. Would it have been better if Raja had not emigrated to this country, if he had not become a dynamo and an economic generator for this region?

I do not know how the candidates step back from their mutual attacks and mend fences after this unseemly knock-down/drag-out election fight. I am disappointed in both of them. Why can a candidate not win with a primarily positive message?