Yes it is expected. And yes, it happens. But I, and a lot of other people I think, really hate it when the political campaigns take a turn for the worse and start to get nasty with personal attacks. Maybe those type of ads and speeches sway you, but to me they just seem like acts of desperation. Pointing out key differences in thoughts and politics is one thing, but accusations and basically name-calling is something else.
If my two children are both trying to convince me of differing view points, I can tell which one of them is either wrong or confused by which one starts name calling and saying the others points are stupid first. If you have a firm footing on your postion and a clear understanding of the issues, then you have no need to belittle your opponent and doing so is actually just a distraction and waste of time.
How I wish our political runners would realize this and may one or two even rise above it. Mudsling is exactly that – dirty politics, and we don’t need it.