Editor's note: Campbell Brown anchors CNN's "Campbell Brown: Election Center" at 8 p.m. ET Mondays through Fridays. She delivered this commentary during the "Cutting through the Bull" segment of Monday night's broadcast.

Campbell Brown says whoever wins should enter the White House with his dignity intact.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- By now you've probably heard about how ugly things have gotten out there on the campaign trail in the last 48 hours.

But we thought for just a moment we would take you back to kinder, gentler times.

Remember this:

Sen. John McCain: I pledge again a respectful campaign. A respectful campaign based on the issues and based on the stark differences we have on the vision for the future of America.

Sen. Barack Obama: I said I was looking forward to a civil substantive debate on the issues and he agreed.

McCain: I've pledged to conduct a respectful campaign and I urge, time after time, various entities within the Republican party to also do that.

Obama: We don't need John McCain and I to be demonizing each other. You won't get that from my campaign.

Oh how far we have come in such a short period of time.

To say, as Gov. Sarah Palin is now doing, that Barack Obama pals around with terrorists is just outrageous.

But Obama's hands aren't clean either. Here is what he said in May of this year about McCain's involvement in the Keating Five, a savings and loan scandal that happened in the late 80s. iReport.com: Your hopes for next debate

Obama said, "I don't think there is any doubt that John McCain's public record about issues that he's apologized for and written about is not germane to the presidency."

And yet this morning the Obama campaign released a mini-documentary, walking voters through all the details of the Keating Five -- making it very much germane.

There is just one month left. Please, please don't let this devolve into a campaign you are sickened by and embarrassed to be part of.

Here's a purely practical reason: The negativity you are spewing now will only make your job harder after Election Day.

Bipartisanship is really tough to achieve when everyone on both sides is left with a bad bad taste in their mouths.

Here is the new CNN Opinion Research Corp. When asked "How are things going in the country today?" 80 percent said badly. Eighty percent. Pollsters have been asking that question since 1974. Eighty percent is an all-time low. People want to hear solutions from you. They want to hear how you are going to get us out of this mess.

One of you will have to. Don't you want to be able to walk into the White House with your dignity intact and your head held high?

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.

All About John McCain • Barack Obama