Globe and Mail: Mud season starts early in U.S. campaign

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By DOUG SAUNDERS
From Saturday's Globe and Mail

A garish parade of ravaged female interns, scandalized soldiers and communist-sympathizing starlets marched across the American political stage this week — a surprising spectacle, since both George W. Bush and his leading Democrat opponent claimed that they are only interested in campaigning on serious issues such as tax cuts and job losses.

The combination of dirt and denial is the result of a new, lower form of political campaigning, in which Republican Party affiliates leak damaging personal information about Democrat rivals to grassroots conservative news sources, while claiming the higher ground in statements to more respectable official outlets.

It has proved amazingly successful. With the presidential election more than eight months away and the Democrats still at least six weeks away from settling on a candidate, the U.S. media are already consumed with chasing down decades-old personal rumours about Mr. Bush and shady tales of sexual impropriety about John Kerry, the Boston senator who leads the Democrats' pack.

Yesterday, a nadir was reached as many of the major U.S. media outlets spent the day chasing a Clintonesque rumour, planted on websites of dubious journalistic merit, involving allegations that Mr. Kerry had a dalliance with a female intern.

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