Although Rick Perry was re-elected governor last Tuesday, politics certainly took a back seat to all the dirty campaigns that were taking place in Texas.

The state of Texas has not seen a good, down-and-dirty, mud-slinging campaign in quite a while. The last governor's race this heated was in 1990, when Republican Clayton Williams ran against Democrat Ann Richards.

In the 1990 race, Williams' mudslinging campaign backfired when Richards refused to participate. That was not the case this year as subtle and not-so-subtle accusations flew from both sides of the party line.

Perhaps the dirtiest ad campaign came from Texas Gov. Rick Perry whose efforts to gain votes included painting his opponent, Democrat Tony Sanchez, as a criminal.

Perry's attacks on Sanchez mainly centered on the Hispanic businessman's failed Tesoro Savings and Loan; he also tied the bank to drug money laundering.

Perry did not just beat Sanchez on the dirty campaign race, he crushed him. Perry further humiliated Sanchez when he accused him of being responsible for the death of an undercover federal agent.

Sanchez also ran a negative campaign. In fact, after winning his party's nomination, Sanchez drew first blood in the governor's race by accusing Perry of corrupting the office, being responsible for high electric bills and neglecting the homeowners' insurance problems.

Probably the most notable ad run by Sanchez was a police video showing Perry's black suburban being stopped for speeding by a female highway patrol officer. An angry Perry emerges from his vehicle and asks the patrol officer, "Why don't you just let us get on down the road?"

Perry cleverly reused this phrase when he raised the speed limit back to 65 m.p.h. just days before the election. Denying this was a political move, Perry said raising the speed was a way to let all Texans "get on down the road."

Although Perry and many Texas newspapers claim Sanchez started the dirty campaign, Perry clearly finished it. In fact, Perry took all other politicians to school by putting on an exhibition on how to properly run a dirty campaign.

All the mudslinging and name calling resembled nothing more than a bunch of child-like tattletales. The dialogue was basically the same.

"He took money from Enron."

"Hey, he took money from Enron too."

"Well, he supports gay rights."

"Oh yeah. Well, he was in favor of raising our taxes."

"Oh yeah. Well, um, he's ugly."

The tragedy is that all this leads to one very important question: What exactly were the real issues?

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