The tenor of the presidential campaign turned sharply negative this week, but the mud-slinging will likely have little effect on next month's election as long as the U.S. economy remains in turmoil, political observers said.
"They can attack each other, they can throw pies, it just doesn't matter," said Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
What does matter, experts said, is the economy. A Gallup poll this week reported 69 percent of Americans pinpoint the economy as the nation's most critical problem, which means that even as insults and slurs clutter the campaign trail, the election will likely hinge on how Barack Obama and John McCain respond to what many are calling the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
This is especially true in battleground states.
"To me, it's very clear what is happening in Florida. People are not responding to the messages from either of the political campaigns. They are responding to the economic issues," said Dario Moreno, a Florida International University political science professor. "It's to the point where it really is a one-issue campaign: What are you going to do to get us out of this mess?"
Moreno's most recent Florida poll found that roughly one in two said the economy was the most important issue facing the country, up from 17 percent in April. Moreno suspects the percentage has grown higher in the past week.
While the economy may be on the forefront of voters' minds, many headlines and much cable news chatter has focused this week on what many veterans consider to be a sideshow of guilt by association.
While Cindy McCain has accused Obama of waging "the dirtiest campaign in American history," others suggest that McCain - who is trailing in the polls - is the bigger culprit.
McCain running mate Sarah Palin said recently it was time to "take the gloves off." Over the weekend, Palin first questioned Obama's ties to 1960s radical William Ayers, and McCain asked, "Who is the real Sen. Obama?" Obama, in turn, responded Monday with a Web site and short documentary exploring McCain's role in the 1980s savings-and-loan scandal.
A recent Obama commercial called McCain "erratic in a crisis" and "out of touch on the economy," while a McCain ad said Obama is "dangerous" and "dishonorable."
The Wisconsin Advertising Project released a study yesterday indicating that both McCain and Obama were engaging in more negative advertising than President George W. Bush and John Kerry four years ago.
