And it is quite likely that the winner of this meta-contest will be the guy with the nastiest ads, the kind voters tend to remember and the press loves to cover.

But the Mayor went up with his nasty ad, and it was important to respond to his garbage.

That would teach them to sneak their nasty ads in where they don't belong!

(The advisers' compromise: the nasty ad was made but never shown.)

By waiting until the last possible moments to broadcast their nastiest ads, the campaigns could distort the truth while running little risk of getting caught until after Election Day.

The nasty ads make you not want to vote at all.

As long as the criticisms are accurate, Mr. Sipple has no qualms about nasty ads.

The provision was first raised by campaign reform advocates years ago after voters condemned nasty ads whose sponsorship was often difficult to discern.

Mr. Forbes's and Mr. Dole's exchange of nasty ads may have had another unintended side effect: a depressed turnout.