2008: 'Dirtiest Presidential Campaign in History'

Before the First Vote Is Cast, Some Political Experts Say the 2008 Campaign Is Already Showing Its Ugly Side
Iowa Democrats received a new round of anonymous phone calls this week, under the guise of opinion poll research, slamming former Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama, in the latest display of the ugly side of this year's presidential campaign. Shari Baeth, a schoolteacher in Des Moines, Iowa, caught one dirty campaign trick -- what's called a push poll -- on tape. Push-poll phone calls are made by anonymous callers who push negative information on voters under the guise of opinion polls.

Even before the first vote is cast, 2008 is being called "one of the dirtiest campaigns in American history" by a political science professor who is tracking campaign dirty tricks and opposition research attacks on rival candidates.