illegalize political commercials

Political commercials are the epitome of propaganda and an immense waste of money. In the last presidential election, Mitt Romney spent $492 million on TV ads, 91% of which went towards negative ads (Washington Post, "Mad Money: TV ads in the 2012 presidential campaign"). Obama spent $404 million, 85% spent on negative ads, and with all these insults and accusations, who knows what to believe? Instead of spending on commercials politicians should spend their absurd amounts of money on locally held political debates. This would allow politicians to make and confront their accusations face-to-face. It would also allow citizens to ask the questions they want answered and promote a more politically educated citizen that doesn't vote based on party affiliation. 60% of campaign $ is for commerc