Now that the season to be warm and fuzzy is over, our national politicians are preparing a series of negative attack ads in a bid to win our votes.

Media pundits predict that the Liberals who stumbled out of 2005 with a campaign littered with gaffes will go on the offensive to demonize conservative leader Stephen Harper as a political opportunist who wants to dismantle medicare and same-sex marriage policies.

The Conservatives are likely to brand Martin as an inept leader of the Liberals who is ineffective when it comes to dealing with corruption and a culture of arrogance.

The Tories have already begun working the electorate with TV ads to warn voters that the Liberals have nothing left in their arsenal and will be stooping to a negative campaign to instill fear among Canadians.

Even the New Democrats have got into the act with ads arguing that their party can "get results," while mentioning the "terrible corruption in Ottawa."

All sides vow to use "facts" in their advertising but you can rest assured that the truth will be somewhere in the middle of the nasty salvos that will be fired beginning this week.

These ads, to borrow a line from Bill Cosby, will avoid the concrete promise and cultivate the delightfully vague.

Much of the mainstream media which is being pre-conditioned by the spin doctors of the main combatants to blame the other for the upcoming negative wave of propaganda has lamented the fact that Canadians will be introduced to a nasty and brutish campaign.

But why should attack-ads be a dirty word in Canadian politics.

Attack ads gain attention.

It helps people make up their minds and force candidates to be more open and truthful about their personality, judgment and character.

Most importantly it would add some sizzle in an otherwise dreary campaign that has already lost the interest of the public.

The undeniable truth in advertising is that we digest and process negative information faster.

And we are more likely to remember and use that information than positive information.

If the promised negative ads are fair, accurate and not too personal, it will help Canadians make their decision.

After all a campaign run on promises can only go so far given our cynicism of politicians.

So bring on the attack ads and we will see whether fear of the unknown or hatred of the incumbent triumphs on Jan 23.