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  I'll See Your "Godless" and Raise You an "AWOL"

  Posted Friday, October 31, 2008 2:37 PM | By Rachael Larimore

  Excellent post, Melinda! Are you starting a contest to ferret out the scummiest campaign tactic? Because that could keep us busy from now until Tuesday, when we'll be sitting around twiddling our thumbs and waiting for the exit polls. I think your Elizabeth Dole ad wins because it's a national race, but I've got my own little submission for scummiest campaign claim, even though it's not an ad. (Hat tip to Joel Mowbray at Townhall.com.)        

  Josh Mandel is a young Republican (wow, I feel old) who won a spot in Ohio's General Assembly in 2006, representing a heavily Democratic district in Cleveland. He was a former Marine who had served in Iraq. In 2007, the Marines asked him to voluntarily re-enlist. As he puts it, "I didn't join the Marine Corps to say no when my country called." So he went, and he returned home in April of this year. Now, up for re-election, challenger Bob Belovich is questioning his dedication to his constituents, and Belovich's wife admits she told voters that Mandel went "AWOL." She also said at a Democratic event that "Josh Mandel isn't serving our country; he's serving George Bush."

  And this YouTube video features an audio clip of Belovich, best I can tell, accusing Mandel in his first campaign of trying to hide his party affiliation and capitalize on his "Jewish" name.

  Filed under: election '08, Elizabeth Dole, Josh Mandel

About Rachael Larimore

• Rachael Larimore is Slate's copy chief.

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