The 2008 presidential campaign for the White House has been long and winding, at times, downright ugly, reports Anayat Durrani With less than three weeks to go until Election Day, the candidates are moving full speed ahead, negative campaigning and all. Both campaigns have swamped the television and radio airwaves and the Internet with attack ads. The Republican campaign for the White House has been particularly nasty. Republican presidential nominee John McCain, and more specifically, his "heels are on, the gloves are off," vice-presidential running mate Sarah Palin, have been relentless in their attacks against their opponent. Their negative campaigning has focussed on accusing Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama of hiding the truth about his ties to 1960s radical William Ayers to repeatedly asserting that the real Obama remains a mystery to voters. At McCain-Palin rallies, their opponent is often referred to as "Barack Hussein Obama" in an attempt to cast fear and suspicion over the Democrat. And, the very mention of his name has brought shouts of "Treason!", "Terrorist!" "Kill Him!" and "Off with his head!" at McCain-Palin rallies, the latter showing just what a looking-glass world US politics has become. Palin, this latterday Queen of Hearts, has described Obama as having "launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist." She also said Obama "pals around with terrorists. This is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America," she told supporters. "I'm afraid this is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country." And as if this were not enough, McCain supporters have repeatedly asked their candidate at rallies to step up his game and "fight" Obama for the White House. So far, Obama has maintained a steady lead in the polls despite McCain's negative campaign against him. The McCain campaign strategy backfired during a town hall meeting last week, when a man told McCain he was "scared" of Obama and a woman said, "I don't trust Obama, he is an Arab." McCain quickly took the mike from the woman and replied, "I have to tell you, Senator Obama is a decent person and a person you don't have to be scared of as president of the United States." Supporters responded with boos. No commentator bothered to note that he failed to state that Arabs are also decent and trustworthy. The incident received a lot of airplay and criticism. Georgian Democratic Congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis said the negative tone of the Republican presidential campaign reminded him of the hateful atmosphere that segregationist Governor George Wallace fostered in Alabama in the 1960s. Following the comment by Lewis, McCain called Lewis's remarks "shocking and beyond the pale". Lewis's comment is of particular note, since back in August, while McCain appeared at a forum on faith, he named Lewis among three "wise people" he would listen to. While Obama acknowledged McCain's efforts to tone down the negative rhetoric, he said his rival has focussed more on running a negative campaign to try to distract voters from the real issue, the troubled US economy. For his part, Obama, in his attacks, has characterised McCain as "out of touch" and "erratic in a crisis", referring to McCain's decision to suspend his presidential campaign to work on a congressional economic bailout package shortly before the first presidential debate. The Democrats have also highlighted McCain's ties to Charles Keating as one of the infamous "Keating Five" of the 1980s savings and loan scandal. Appearing at a rally near Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden said McCain's campaign is desperate to change the subject from the financial crisis that has hurt so many Americans. He said McCain has resorted to making "ugly inferences" about Obama in the remaining days of the campaign. "Every single false charge, every single baseless accusation is a simple attempt to get you to focus on something other than what's affecting your family and your country," said Biden. Republicans are growing increasingly concerned about McCain's tactics and the campaign's focus. ''He is not the McCain I endorsed,'' former Michigan Republican Governor William Milliken told The Grand Rapids Press. "He keeps saying, 'Who is Barack Obama?' I would ask the question, 'Who is John McCain?' because his campaign has become rather disappointing to me. I'm disappointed in the tenor and the personal attacks on the part of the McCain campaign, when he ought to be talking about the issues." Obama remains ahead nationally and in key states. Political analysts and pollsters have noted that no candidate in recent history has lagged behind in mid-October and won the presidential elections. The economy is the most pressing issue facing voters this election. After weeks of economic crisis that led to a steep drop in the stock market and a $700 billion government bailout of financial institutions, voters are looking to the candidates to provide solutions. Acknowledging that he is behind in the polls, McCain told supporters "we've got them just where we want them," in position for his comeback. He announced a new $52.5 billion economic plan called the Pension and Security Plan to assist large and small businesses, homeowners and the unemployed. His plan would eliminate taxes on unemployment benefits and cut the capital gains tax. "What we need to see now is swift and bold action to lead this country in a new direction," McCain told supporters in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Despite focussing on the economy, McCain did not let up on his attacks on Obama. In Philadelphia in a cleverly veiled racist attack, he pontificated, "perhaps never before in history have the American people been asked to risk so much based on so little," McCain told a crowd in Philadelphia. With his uncultured, scandal-plagued vice presidential candidate, such words surely refer more to him than to Obama. A bipartisan state legislative panel ruled Friday that Palin pressured a subordinate to fire her former brother-in-law from his job as a state police officer. Palin has denied the charges are true. The damaging report is another setback for the McCain camp and could challenge their attempts to hail Palin as a reformer ready to battle corruption in Washington. Though things appear to be going well for Obama, there is a worrying issue lurking in the shadows: the Bradley effect. In 1982, popular Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley, a black, ran for California governor, was ahead in all the polls until election day, and still lost. The explanation proffered was that many whites or Hispanics who intended to vote for him either didn't show up or gave a false answer to pollsters to hide their underlying prejudice. If that is true, and the McCain campaign continues to appeal to latent racial prejudice, then Obama needs every percentage point he can get to prevail.
