Here's a question that every presidential/gubernatorial/congressional candidate should be forced to answer, frequently.
Why do you want this job? What do you expect to do, if you win this office, that your opponent cannot/will not do?
Don't tell me what you hate about your opponent, tell me what YOU plan to do, and how you plan to do it. Not in paragraphs of bureaucrat-speak, but in short, simple, easy to understand sentences.
Mr Kerry - why do you want to be president?
Mr Bush - why do you want to be re-elected?
Ah-nold -- why do you want to be gov?
Mr Davis - why do you want to keep this job, when your clients apparently hate you?
Don't waste my time telling me why the other person needs to go. Tell me why you should be allowed in, or allowed to stay.
And if you don't have a plan, or a goal, for your time in office... if you're just running for office because you like the thought of being "somebody," then get the hell out of the way and let someone else have it. Someone who might make a difference. Someone who isn't just out for "fame and fortune," but who truly cares about the country or the state or the school district that they're campaigning for.
Let me give you a nice, easily-understandable example of what I mean.
Back in 1987, I was in the market for a new vehicle. I was highly enamored of Hondas, because a good friend of mine swore by them, but I liked Mazda's too. I had narrowed my choices down to a Honda Civic hatchback or a Mazda 323 hatchback. The Civic was a couple thousand dollars more.
So I went to the Honda dealer, and I asked the salesman why his car was more expensive than the Mazda. Instead of telling me what was right with his car, he tried to tell me what was wrong with the Mazda, but everything he said was a feature that I liked about that car. The Mazda dealer didn't run down the Honda.
I went home and thought some more about it... this was a big decision, after all. I examined the specs some more, thought about what I wanted, and one weekend I drove back up to Boise to talk to the Mazda dealership, and they were closed (not for good).
So I bopped over to the Honda dealership to talk to them some more, and mentioned to the guy (same guy) that I had thought about talking to Mazda that day, but they were closed. Did he have any idea where they might be?
He said (and I can almost quote this verbatim, even though it happened 18 years ago) that "they spent all the money creating that big new dealership/lot, and they can't sell any cars there, so they're over at the Fairgrounds having a sale." or words to that effect.
I wound up buying a Mazda (but a B2000, not a 323).
If you can't tell me what's *right* about your product, but only disparage your competition, regardless of what that product may be, why should I spend my money on it? That holds true for me regardless of what your product might be ... merchandise, school, candidate, whatever. And whether I'm spending my money or my vote, I'm planning to spend it where it and I will be respected, not talked down to, not manipulated, not sneered at.