political games, when do we get to have an offseason?

Hillary Clinton officially threw her hat into the ring for the Presidential race in 2008 today (as if anyone in the country had any doubts whatsoever that she would). We just got done with the mid-term elections, which were oh so much fun (yes that was definitely sarcasm you noticed in that statement), and now we get to start the whole process over again and listen to these people trash each other for the next 2 years. For once I'd like to see a politician run a campaign in which they actually talk about what they believe, and what they plan to do instead of spending all their time trying to discredit their oponent. I don't care what party a candidate is from, if they would take an ethical stance to build their campaign on their own merits instead of focusing on the bad points of thier oponent they would definitely have an advantage in getting my vote. I stop short of saying that I would definitely vote for them because what they consider to be their merits might not match up with my own worldview. Am I alone in this, or are there others who are tired of seeing these negative campaigns drag on and on for years on end.