The WaPo's Eli Saslow has a very good article that gives a micro view of what the anti-Obama whispering campaign has wrought in one Ohio Rust Belt town:
"I think Obama would be a disaster, and there's a lot of reasons," said Pollard, explaining the rumors he had heard about the candidate from friends he goes camping with. "I understand he's from Africa, and that the first thing he's going to do if he gets into office is bring his family over here, illegally. He's got that racist [pastor] who practically raised him, and then there's the Muslim thing. He's just not presidential material, if you ask me."
The Obama campaign is fighting back with television ads and its rumor-debunking website, plus it has a couple college students going door to door in the town trying to set the record straight. But seeing as how people seem to believe the rumors because they hear them from people they know and trust, you wonder if the Obama campaign's tactics will actually work.
--Jason Zengerle