Hopes Fade for a Postpartisan Era

Dow Jones Reprints: This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit Hopes Quickly Fade for a Postpartisan Era Idealists once looked at this presidential campaign, between two candidates who fancy themselves as free of conventional party ties, and thought it might produce the election that finally pulled Washington out of the deep rut of partisan divisiveness it fell into in the 1990s. Today, three weeks before Election Day, it sure doesn't look that way. Instead, partisan animosity is growing rather than waning. Democrats charge, essentially, that the McCain campaign is engaging in character assassination against their candidate, Barack Obama. The Republican... [read full story]