Look, Dems, this is how it’s done.

Update: I understand that the “submit to me” line was taken out of context, which is a shame, but please note —

In a statement from the campaign Monday afternoon, Webster’s wife and campaign manager derided Grayson’s ad as “shameful” and “ludicrous.”

But the response does not refute any of the charges leveled in the ad – titled “Taliban Dan Webster” – which claimed that Webster, a former state Senate majority leader and state House speaker, wanted to make divorce illegal and deny abused women health care. Grayson’s ad even claims that Webster “tried to prohibit alimony to an ‘adulterous wife’ but not an adulterous husband,’” and that he “wants to force women to stay in abusive marriages.”

Webster’s response also does not address footage in the ad of Webster saying, “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husband,” and “She should submit to me – that’s in the Bible.”

As Echidne points out, Webster is associated with a group of men who believe that wives should submit to their husbands.

Susannah Randolph, Grayson’s campaign manager, defended the ad. She pointed to Webster’s ties to the Institute in Basic Life Principles and its founder Bill Gothard, who has taught that women should be subservient to their husbands and not work outside the home. While in the state House in 1990, Webster spent $4,340 of taxpayer money to print and mail a district flier urging constituents to attend one of the group’s seminars.

Also,

The campaign spot also criticized Webster because of his opposition to abortion, even in cases of rape or incest; his sponsorship of a bill giving couples the option of entering a “covenant marriage” that would allow divorce only in cases of adultery; and his vote against a measure that would have prohibited insurance companies from treating domestic violence as a pre-existing condition.

Steve M. explains how Carl “Mr. Furious” Paladino, Republican nominee for governor of New York, is a creep. See also Joe Coscarelli at The Village Voice.

And this ad is all over New York City television —

Yes, it’s a fairly standard representation of the “negative ad” genre, but I think it’s pretty effective, and this and a very similar one are being shown a lot.

Polling in this race is a tad inconsistent. There are polls showing a tied race. There are polls showing Cuomo with a 2-to-1 lead. So much for the polls. Although there are places upstate that would elect a right-wing ham sandwich if it promised to cut taxes, I think as the voters of New York get a closer look at Paladino, they will drift over to Cuomo in this last few weeks. See also Nate Silver.

This is New York, not South Carolina. Or Nevada, for that matter. Sharron Angle has done everything but wrap tin foil around her head and try to fly off a roof, and she’s still a contender. Amazing.