COMMENTARY: Well, brace yourself. The election campaign season has officially begun. Your TV and mailbox are about to be taken over by a slew of negative campaign ads intended to persuade you that a candidate’s opponent is a bottom feeding scum sucker.

Facts will be the first casualty. Oh, the political campaigns will all have some kind of documentation for their over-the-top assertions and smear-by-inference messages. But truth is a nuanced matter and is rarely decisive in elections.

As of today, the news for national Democrats is uniformly bad. A recent Gallup poll gives Republicans a ten-point advantage on which party is best able to handle the economy and a breathtaking 25-point advantage on enthusiasm about voting next November.

A recent Rasmussen tracking poll states a near-majority of likely voters strongly disapprove of President Barack Obama’s performance compared to about a quarter of likely voters that strongly approve.

Republicans have their problems, too. While only a third of Americans have a favorable view of Democrats, they dislike Republicans even more – only 24 percent have a favorable view of the GOP.

But, as I always point out, incumbents don’t get beat, they get fired and the country is in a firing mood. Because they have the majorities in Congress, Democrats are most likely to be the ones given the pink slip this year.

It’s tough to see what could turn the story line around for Democrats. The near collapse of the European financial system last spring killed the forward momentum of the American economic recovery. Even if the rate of recovery were to resume immediately, it is probably too late for perceptions to catch up with any kind of good news that may be coming down the pike.

Forget any serious conversation about solving the problems of our country and state. Anger at George Bush drove Democratic victories in 2006 and 2008. Anger at Barack Obama will likely drive Republican victories in 2010.

Let the attack ads begin.