Masters of Persuasion Are Aiming for You

It's not even summer and the presidential election is five months away, but campaign advertising has hit TV and the Internet earlier than ever as each candidate tries to define the other before he can define himself. The "electronic dogs of war" have already been loosed by the Obama and Romney campaigns, along with assorted Political Action Committees. The Obama campaign got into trouble with some of the President's own supporters this week with a TV commercial featuring laid-off workers at a company sold by Bain Capital when Mitt Romney was in charge. When prominent Democrats attacked the Obama attack ad, the Romney campaign struck back. What works with an electorate that's barely paying any attention at all? Is it time to go negative? How can voters tell the truth from the outright lies?