I've been thinking lately about how the media too often get sucked into covering the extremes. So when I went to see Big Labor's anti-Bush bus on its stop in Boise on Monday, I expected more raw political character assassination.

Instead, I found the message generally civil and in keeping with the promises of Barack Obama and John McCain to run clean campaigns.

Yes, the bus was partisan. Yes, it assailed the president on the economy, Iraq, health care and gas prices. There was rhetorical hyperbole and a mean-spirited photograph of the vice president. But the Bush Legacy Tour Bus was rooted in facts and within the bounds of fair-minded campaign speech.

I suspect the sponsors were relatively restrained because they know voters have had a bellyful of name calling, distortions and lies. Talking to folks who toured the bus Downtown suggests playing it straight works.

Rick Bateman said he supports Bush as "a good, Christian person" but learned new information he'll consider as he decides how to vote in November. "I didn't see anything falsified in there," said Bateman.

Two personal experiences have Bateman, 54, troubled by the country's direction. In 2004, his classmate from Borah High School, Rick Ulbright, a civilian special agent with the Air Force, was killed in Iraq.

"This war has gone on way too long," said Bateman, who has worked at Kmart for 28 years. "More people are losing their lives - for freedom, yes, but whose freedom? Losing a friend like that at my age, I'm thinking, Why?"

Another loss has Bateman asking how the next president will repair a troubled health care system. Bateman's mother died in March. Watching her suffer while waiting for drugs and helping her negotiate the bureaucracy convinced him major reform is urgent. That will be a key in his decision on who to support for president.

"I'm looking for someone who will truly help the people," he said, "not just say it and run."

Sen. McCain was a victim of false campaign claims in South Carolina in 2000, when opponents said he had fathered an illegitimate black child. Sen. Obama has been called a closet Muslim, and just last week, I got a viral e-mail claiming, falsely, that he'd been secretly raising millions on the Internet from Saudi bankers and the Chinese communist government.

McCain and Obama have promised us civil campaigns. Though both camps have sniped, we've seen nothing like the scorched-earth tactics of 2000 and 2004.

A good signal came Monday just before the bus rolled into town. McCain and Obama agreed to their first joint appearance in a promising venue in Southern California. They will appear Aug. 16 at the Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion, organized by Rick Warren, an Orange County, Calif., pastor of a 22,000-member church.

"This is a critical time for our nation and the American people deserve to hear both candidates speak from the heart - without interruption - in a civil and thoughtful format absent the partisan 'gotcha' questions that typically produce heat instead of light," Warren said.

Warren has both candidates' support for his PEACE Plan, which aims to have churches around the world focus on five issues: spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, disease and illiteracy. Members of his coalition, including Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders, will meet as part of the forum that includes the candidates.

That's the kind of big-picture problem-solving Americans hunger for.

Kim Hoppie, a Boise bookbinder, stopped by the bus Monday. An Obama supporter, she nevertheless said she was glad to see McCain playing fair.

"We've lost our civility and I think that's what makes people yell at each other from car to car," Hoppie said. "We need to appreciate others' points of view and their humanity."

Rep. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, also visited the bus, which is sponsored by groups including the AFL-CIO, VoteVets.org and MoveOn.org.

LeFavour was pleased to see data on uninsured Americans, the growing gap between the working-class and the wealthiest Americans and financial connections between industry and policy-making. "It really did talk about the issues ahead of us and solutions," LeFavour said.

Recent history has made Americans skeptical of attack campaigns. That an anti-Bush campaign backed by liberals is sticking to facts gives me hope we'll have a conversation about addressing America's problems, not demonizing the two honorable men seeking to lead us.

Dan Popkey: 377-6438