It’s no small matter that the final stretch before Election Day comes in the build-up to, and afterglow of, Halloween.
What other holiday more accurately reflects the spirit of American elections than the ghoulish, netherworldly exaltation of All Hallows Eve?
And like the most terrifying haunted house, the dark arts of campaign politics are not for the faint of heart.
A common spooky campaign practice I’ve noticed is to put a candidate with the same name as an incumbent on the ballot. The fake candidate will invariably siphon some of the incumbents’ electoral support, thereby increasing the chances of the opponent.
It doesn’t always work, but it’ll always scare the hell out of an incumbent.
Until recently, those kinds of shenanigans rarely found their way into judicial campaigns. Typically those contests operated above the common fray of Philistine behavior, deceptive ads and big money.
But now, even judicial elections are subject to eerie campaign tactics.
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