The 2012 presidential campaign promises to be a war of clashing ideologies between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Each side is trading barbs about negative campaigning, smear tactics and dirty tricks. But Joseph Cummins's informative and entertaining program Anything for a Vote, reveals that smear campaigns are as much a part of our democratic process as our flag and constitution.

1836: Congressman Davy Crockett—the Ann Coulter of his time—accuses candidate Martin Van Buren of secretly wearing women’s clothing: “He is laced up in corsets such as women in the town wear!”

1876: One of three certifiably stolen presidential elections in United States history— in which Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes is accused of getting drunk and shooting his mother—ends with a controversial secret deal brokered by Southern Democrats.

1964: President Lyndon Johnson bugs Republican candidate Barry Goldwater’s campaign plane, using CIA agent E. Howard Hunt. As if that isn’t enough, he has his staff secretly prepare and distribute a coloring book for children, where the little ones could color in pictures of Goldwater in Ku Klux Klan robes.

2008: Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin tells CBS’s Katie Couric why Alaska’s proximity to Russia gives her foreign policy experience: “As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where—where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just over the border.”

Tailored to reflect events currently happening in the 2012 campaign, Cummins’s lecture is immensely relevant, providing insight into why the candidates act the way they do and giving historical perspective to the backstabbing and infighting. Covering everything from the stolen presidential elections in American history to the Top Ten Classic Campaign Smears, Cummins’s program provides a perfect evening for political junkies and casual voters alike.

About Joseph Collins:
Joseph Cummins is the author of numerous works of history, including History’s Great Untold Stories; The World’s Bloodiest History (winner of the Our History Project Gold Medal Award for Best History Book of 2010); Anything for a Vote: Dirty Tricks, Cheap Shots and October Surprises in U.S. Election Campaigns; Ten Tea Parties: Patriotic Protests That History Forgot; and the forthcoming Eaten by A Giant Clam: Great Adventures in Natural Science.