Like Pinoys, American bets also use dirty tricks

“If you think you can slander a woman into loving you, or a man into voting for you, try it till you are satisfied.”
--Abraham Lincoln

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- When opponents of the late Ilongga Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago circulated a story that she was mentally unstable calling her a “brenda” (brain damage) when she ran for president in 1992 without showing any proof, we thought elections in the Philippines were the most obnoxious and the murkiest in the world.
It turned out the use of dirty tricks like mudslinging and slanderous media campaign advertisements appeared to be nastier in the United States compared in the Philippines.
For several weeks now, I laughed each time I saw on TV the poll advertisement “approved by” Bob Hugin, a Republican challenger for the New Jersey Senate race, accusing reelectionist Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of having sex with minor prostitutes.
It reminded me of 1998 presidential candidate Joseph “Erap” Estrada, who won nevertheless even if his rivals accused him of being a womanizer and addicted to liquors.
Hugin, a former pharmaceutical executive, has reportedly dug deep into his pocket to hammer Sen. Menendez, spending over $10 million on negative ads.
Media have reported that their tussle “has become unexpectedly close and increasingly nasty.”
Hugins’ most recent ad focuses on the most salacious details stemming from allegations against Sen. Menendez during his last re-election campaign: that he and his wealthy Florida doctor friend, Salomon Melgen, frequently hired underage prostitutes while vacationing in the Dominican Republic.
“What about the underage girls who accused you, according to the F.B.I.?” screams the TV ad that runs in the prime time.

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The allegations were reportedly made by an anonymous tipster who called himself Pete Williams, a wry reference to a former senator from New Jersey, Harrison “Pete” Williams, who was convicted in 1981 of taking bribes.
The tipster reportedly first reached out to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a left-leaning legal watchdog group. The group eventually passed the allegations to the F.B.I.
The ad reportedly refers to an F.B.I. affidavit filed to show probable cause for a search warrant. In the affidavit, Special Agent Gregory J. Sheehy, recounts his attempts to investigate the tipster’s allegations.
True or not, the nasty TV campaign ad we are referring to only shows that below-the-belt attacks against political opponents are not the exclusive handiwork of Filipino politicians, who went as far as inventing stories and hiring “barkers” or radio block time anchors during the campaign period to destroy the reputation of their rivals.

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Like in the presidential elections in 2016, we will again cover the United States elections on Tuesday, November 6, 2018 which will take place in the middle of President Donald Trump's first term.
To be contested are all the 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate.
At stake in the midterms elections is control of Congress, both houses of which are currently dominated by the Republicans (although the Grand Old Party holds only a narrow 51-49 majority in the Senate).
Democrats are reportedly “on a roll” and are hoping to wrest enough new seats to at least regain control of the House.
They have not held both houses of the legislative branch since 2010.
The U.S. Senate has 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats (including two independents).