The premise of any smear campaign rests on a central truth of
politics: Most of us will vote for a candidate we like and respect,
even if we don't agree with him on every issue. But if you can cripple
a voter's basic trust in a candidate, you can probably turn his vote.
The idea is to find some piece of personal information that is tawdry
enough to raise doubts, repelling a candidate's natural supporters. [...]
It's not necessary, however, for a smear to be true to be
effective. The most effective smears are based on a kernel of truth
and applied in a way that exploits a candidate's political weakness.
Rebutting tawdry attacks focuses public attention on them, and
prevents the campaign from talking issues.
~~ McCain campaign manager Rick Davis
Boston Globe: http://tinyurl.com/53pjdo
