A short history of campaign dirty tricks
          
1800 Sensationalize. President John Adams (left) finds himself running against Vice President Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson’s campaign alleges Adams is a hermaphrodite, while Adams’ supporters accuse Jefferson of fathering several children with his young slave, Sally Hemings. Jefferson defeats Adams

1828 Nastiest contest. Slurs fly back and forth between war veteran General Andrew Jackson (left) and John Quincy Adams, with Adams accused of being a pimp. Jackson’s mother is labelled a prostitute, and his wife, Rachel, a slut. Jackson wins election. Inauguration party descends into drunken brawl

1876 Electoral College controversy. Democrat Samuel J. Tilden (right) wins popular vote, and has 184 Electoral College votes – one shy of majority needed – to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes’ 165. 20 votes remain uncounted. In Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina, fraud and ballot-rigging results in each state sending two sets of electoral votes to Congress, with both sides claiming victory. After bitter battle, 20 remaining votes go to Hayes, just two days before inauguration

1992 Sex and morals. Leading into New Hampshire primaries, Gennifer Flowers (right) – former model and one-time cabaret dancer – nearly wrecks Democratic candidate Bill Clinton’s run for presidency. Flowers claims she had a 12-year affair with Clinton while he was governor of Arkansas. Clinton aggressively denies Flowers’ allegation and goes on to defeat President George H.W. Bush in November

2000 Vicious rumours. Sen. John McCain (right) wins New Hampshire primary, beating George W. Bush. McCain now turns his focus to South Carolina, where Bush campaign uses tried and true strategy – a fake poll – to spread falsehoods about McCain. Phone calls to Republican voters ask “Would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain... if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?” McCain and his wife Cindy had adopted a dark-skinned girl from Bangladesh in 1991 and that child, Bridget, was campaigning with them in South Carolina

2016 Pizzagate. Social media spreads conspiracy theory that hacked Democratic email accounts contain coded messages referring to human trafficking and child sex ring run by Hillary Clinton and other high-ranking Democrats. Donald Trump wins presidency

2020 Postal votes. Upsurge in Democrats voting by mail due to coronavirus – Republicans favour in-person voting. In battleground states, election-night results may not indicate ultimate winner. Trump could use slower postal vote count to cast doubt on results or even declare himself winner on election night
                      

Sources: 270 to Win, Bloomberg, Brookings, New York Review of Books 
Pictures: Associated Press, Library of Congress 
© GRAPHIC NEWS