Bipartisan problem

What ever happened to debating the issues? Both parties have a problem with very negative ads that are dealing with something other than the issues. One senate race has one candidate saying the other one is Godless. All these candidates are trying to use a fear factor to get more votes rather than debating the issues of the other candidate. Why does the personal problems of Barack Obama and John McCain really matter? What we should be looking at is what they believe they can do for this country. I feel this race has turned more into in name calling race than a political one, I think many people do not like either parties using smear campaigns in anyway, because I know i do not like it.