Democrats say that State Republican Chairman Eric Holcomb is acting as a hatchet man for Mike Pence, the GOP candidate for governor.  It’s a pre-emptive strike.  Mike Pence promises to run a positive campaign but Democrats still expect negative attacks .

Holcomb called a news conference today to attack Democratic candidate for governor John Gregg’s record, giving him failing marks on fiscal issues.  It was, however, fairly mild when it comes to political attacks.  “We’ve seen that John Gregg’s record has been somewhat embellished by his campaign and while on his travels,” said Holcomb.  Democrats expect more, however, and Holcomb indicated he may also be responsible for TV ads in the race for governor.

It’s significant because of a 1991 essay published by Mike Pence titled “Confessions of a Negative Campaigner.”  In it Pence wrote “Negative campaigning, I now know, is wrong.”  It came after a 1990 race for Congress in which an unsuccessful Pence admitted to going negative.  One of his ads that year featured an actor posing as an Arab thanking Pence opponent Phil Sharp for American dependence on foreign oil.

This year all 5 of Pence’s ads are positive.  But Democrats expect negative tactics to come later and that has them focusing on Holcomb.  “Part of that stems from the fact that Mike Pence doesn’t want to run a negative campaign,” said State Democratic Chairman Dan Parker, “so he’s going to have Eric do it.”

Holcomb, meantime, says that records are fair game and he won’t do anything that is negative on a personal level.  John Gregg, on the other hand, is not contrained by a pledge to run a positive campaign.