4. Remember the golden rule. (Not the one about silence — this is politics, after all.) Never — ever — question the motives of your opponent. I first heard this point made by Mickey Edwards, a former congressman from Oklahoma, at an orientation session for newly elected Congress members in 1996. He repeated it several times, and for good reason. Questioning a person’s motives is a frontal attack on their integrity, implying that they possess some nefarious intention. Too often the cavalier suggestion is corruption — that someone is taking an action in return for special treatment, political payback, or money. Unfortunately, politicians are usually the first to forget that if you assume someone else is acting in bad faith, they will do the same to you. Questioning motives poisons the well.