Tess,

While politics can be dirty, there is no inherent requirement for it to be so. At the same time it is essential, as man is by nature a social animal.

While one must look carefully to find them there are limits to "how low can they go". For example, the attack ads of the early 90s have been deemphasized when their audience responded negatively towards their authors rather than towards their targets.

I doubt however that the campaign managers will let their candidates crawl too far out of the electioneering cesspit.

__________________
Eudaimonia