Now that the primary election is over and the general election is a matter of 14 weeks away, it’s time to talk about the nitty-gritty of campaigning.

For the past few years, The Leader has asked candidates running for office to take what is called the “Fair Campaign Pledge.”

The pledge is simple and reads:

• I will conduct my campaign honestly, openly and fairly. I will discuss the issues and participate in fair public debate with respect to my views and qualifications.

• I will not engage in, permit or condone defamatory attacks upon the character of my opponent, nor will I engage in invasions of personal privacy unrelated to campaign issues.

• I will not use or permit use of any campaign material or advertisement that misrepresents, distorts or otherwise falsifies the facts regarding my opponent.

• I will refuse to disseminate any campaign material or message in which I am not prominently identified.

• I will publicly repudiate support from any individual or group whose activities would violate this Fair Campaign Pledge.

All of those statements are straightforward.

And sadly, there have been candidates locally who have signed the pledge and failed to abide by them.

What were the repercussions, the consequences? Well, nothing, actually, because there is no enforcement mechanism. Arguably, The Leader itself was at times lax at taking candidates to task, because so often the candidates could argue that someone not associated with their campaign had not run something by them before releasing it, and therefore the candidate couldn't be held accountable.

And therein lies the problem: It’s often not the candidate who needs to take the pledge, but his or her supporters, some of whom write letters to the editor and make statements about the opponents that are factually incorrect.

Our country is learning the hard way that words matter. And they matter not just in big elections, but in little local ones that we are engaged in. There are at least two local elections that are heating up and likely to be contentious.

So, we aren't going to ask just the candidates to take the pledge this year, we’re going to ask supporters and the entire voting community in Jefferson County to look over the pledge rules before writing letters, before clicking “send” to print a campaign flier, before making statements at public forums.

The pledge is worth not just taking, but following.