US Politics / Ari Last / 01 November 2008 /

Things are getting nasty in the race for the Presidency in the United States between Barack Obama and John McCain. Ari Last takes a look at the dirty tricks taking the campaigns by storm...

The Presidential campaign is laden with carefully formulated sound bites, and directed by teams of expensively assembled analysts, striving to create an image of "whiter than white" for their respective candidates. Yet for all of the straight talking and meticulously executed campaign strategies, as the day of reckoning draws closer the primitive, dark art of the dirty trick is beginning to rear its ugly head.

Ensuring the integrity of Tuesday's ballot will prove difficult enough. A record voter turnout is widely expected with new voter registrations at an all time high. To make the situation even more precarious, new voting systems introduced after the passing in 2002 of the "Help America Vote Act", which was brought in after the debacle of the 2000 election, will be put to the test for the first time, and a bug in the system could wreak absolute havoc with the result.

Americans and the candidates themselves have to worry about underhand tactics on two fronts, those used by the opposing parties and those deployed by regular citizens.

Talk of voter registration fraud are rife with the most prevalent fear being that due to deliberate and accidental data entry, thousands will turn up to the Polls wanting to vote, only to be refused due to their registration details not matching those held on their driving licences.

The possibility of this occurring is so high that provisional ballot laws have been put in place allowing those who can't confirm their registration to still cast their vote, which will only be activated if they can sufficiently prove their identity by nightfall of election day.

A more blatant accusation of voter fraud has been fired at US Liberal Community group "ACORN" who have, according to the Republicans, registered thousands of voters who don't actually exist.

At the same time the Democrats have hit back, slamming John McCain as "hypocritical" after Republican operative Mark Jacoby was arrested for registering himself to vote twice in states in which he doesn't actually live. Another man on the Republican payroll, Nathan Sproul, was also charged last week on grounds of voter fraud, further deepening the feeling of suspicion currently eminent in the minds of voters nationwide.

With all this mudslinging and finger pointing amongst those supposed to be contesting for the trust and confidence of the American people, is it any wonder that many supporters are also now resorting to tactics of the sly and sinister variety?

In Virginia, cunning Republican supporters sent out flyers telling Democrats that they are supposed to cast their vote on November 5th, a day after the election, while in Philadelphia voters have been receiving memos warning them that those with unpaid parking tickets could face arrest if they turn up at the ballot box.

Those aiming to evoke ties between Barack Obama and Islamic extremism have also been hard at work with the Clarion Fund sending out thousands of DVD's titled: "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against The West" as well as other slightly less sophisticated merchants of chaos choosing to deface Obama placards by replacing "Obama" with "Osama".

Other tricks which have been recorded so far include the accusation by the Christian group "Focus on the Family" that by 2012, "pornographic magazines will openly be displayed", and the advert released by the National Republican Trust stating that if he would have been President at the time, "Barack Obama would have granted September 11 ring leader Mohammed Atta a drivers licence".

The most amusing tale of voters participating in misleading behaviour occurred in Ohio where a young woman claimed she had been branded on the cheek by Obama supporters. Her genius plan quickly unravelled when it was noticed that the "B" which had been drawn onto her face was backwards, making it apparent that a mirror had been used in the process. This revelation was quickly followed up by the 20 year old halfwit admitting to branding herself, in an act which can only be described as one of sheer idiocy.

Are these acts of disingenuous lunacy a threat to the integrity of the election? Perhaps.
Are they utterly amusing? Unquestionably.

Barack Obama is strong favourite to come out victor on Tuesday's election on Betfair at [1.14]. John McCain looks in deep trouble - perhaps only dirty tricks can save him now.

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