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ALBANY, GA -- "Do we want to see the negative ads?" said Miloy Schwartz. "No. We don’t want to know about anything that’s going on in the world but it’s there and it’s real."

Negative advertising is nothing new in American politics.

There was Lyndon Johnson’s infamous ‘Daisy’ ad that portrayed Barry Goldwater as a loose cannon capable of annihilating the civilized world.

LBJ won in a landslide.

And there was George H.W. Bush’s Willie Horton ads accusing Michael Dukakis of setting a dangerous criminal free.

Another landslide, this time for Bush.

So it’s no surprise that former Congressman Nathan Deal and former Governor Roy Barnes are using similar tactics against each other.

As Speaker of the Georgia House, David Ralston is a political veteran and says negative ads are unfortunate, but effective.

"They keep using them because they work," said Ralston.

He adds, however, that it takes ideas first to appeal to the voters.

"What is it you stand for?" said Ralston. "What do you stand for that’s going to make Albany and Dougherty County and Southwest Georgia have better opportunities?"

Expect the frequency and tone of negative political advertising to ramp up significantly between now and election day. But at this point in the campaign, negative ads are less about gaining new support and more about keeping the other side’s supporters at home.

"The strategy is to try to keep people – is to turn people off so much that they don’t go vote," said Ralston.