Obama's down-and-dirty negative campaign dovetails nicely with his best strategy, which is to depress the vote among all but his most reliable partisans. Making the election about nothing except negative attacks should do that for him.

◼ Larry Sabato looked at previous polls and had several conclusions: 1, there are not very many swing voters at all. 2, they're unenthusiastic about voting (which either causes, or is caused by, the fact that they're uncommitted and don't love either candidate). And 3, they don't much like this Barack Obama character: - Ace Of Spades

◼ Sabato: Swing Voters Have Almost As Negative An Opinion of Obama As Romney Supporters - Ace Of Spades

◼ Swing voters: Unhappy with Obama but unenthusiastic about voting - Sabato's Crystal Ball