We used to call it the “silly season” when candidates ran for office and the races went negative, but it’s not silly any more.

The ugliness hits new lows almost every day on TV and in our mailboxes.

It’s worse than ever.

Politicians didn’t have good reputations to begin with. Now voters think less of them. To some of the electorate, people running for office started with little or no popularity. A majority of their constituents may now actually hate them.

And make no mistake; it’s not just the gubernatorial race that’s ridiculously nasty. One of the local races is also devoted to the fine art of mudslinging, and there might be more to come.

You can expect the following:

My opponent pulls the legs and wings off of ladybugs and feeds their bodies to spiders.

My opponent offers peanut butter sandwiches to dehydration victims crawling across the desert.

My opponent always parks in handicapped-only spaces.

My opponent only sends text messages while driving.

My opponent creates computer viruses that send massive amounts of spam and then kills your hard drive.

My opponent puts graffiti on Mount Rushmore. My opponent dislikes children, puppies and kittens.

My opponent cheats at solitaire.

My opponent tried to claim tax deductions for making contributions to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Every election season, we think it can’t get worse But it always does.