SLEAZE BUBBLES TO THE TOP IN FROTHY US POLLS

Sleaze bubbles to the top in frothy US polls

Clinton Takes A Dig At Don's 3am `Sex Tape' Tweet

Slime and sleaze has bubbled to the top in the most revolting US presidential election in living memory , courtesy Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Much of America is still in shock after Trump came unhinged in a series of 3 am tweets casting aspersions on a former Miss Universe who he had dissed as “Miss Piggy“ (because she was overweight), including urging them to “check out sex tape and her past“. The exhortation only resulted in his critics and rivals checking out Trump's own past, to discover that had told a radio show of watching the infamous pornographic video of billionaire heiress Paris Hilton, and finding her attractive when she was only 12. Worse followed: The tabloid media, and even some of his supporters, went catatonic after it emerged that Trump himself appeared in a softporn Playboy video in 2000.

Trump was unrepentant about his 3 am Twitter rant.“For those few people knocking me for tweeting at 3 o'clock in the morning, at least you know I will be there, awake, to answer the call!“ he bragged.

Then, in an effort to take the high road and present herself as a contrast to Trump, Hillary Clinton too tweeted after 3 am the next day -about policy . “It's 3:20am. As good a time as any to tweet about national service,“ Clinton jibed on Twitter in the wee hours of Saturday , in a series of messages about public volunteerism and college loans.

Meanwhile, the ones who should really be having sleepless nights -the electorate -have already begun early vot ing in some states some five weeks before Election Day on November 8. Early voting typically favors the party with better ground organisation, and the Democratic Party is seen to have a big advantage here given the GOP's reluctant backing of Trump.

The latest polls show Clinton starting to regain the lead after she was in a deadheat with Trump on the eve of the first debate. Real Clear Politics poll of polls now show Hillary nearly three points ahead -and that was before Trump's 3 am troubles.

(toi)