John McCain fathered an illegitimate black child. Mitt Romney is hiding his own gay albino son. Barack Obama is a radical Muslim, bent on waging a jihad from America’s highest office. Barack Obama is a racist African Christian, bent on waging a race war from America’s highest office. Hillary Clinton is a lesbian.

If you keep stumbling on these hot pieces of “truth” while skimming CNN.com or watching Fox News, it means one thing. As the battle for the presidential nominations heads into the crucial Super Nova/Tsunami/Super Tuesday Feb. 5 stretch, covert political operatives are committed to what they do best: high-tech sliming of the leading candidates.

Anonymous mudslinging, whisper campaigns and dirty tricks are nothing new. In 1800, Thomas Jefferson hired a writer to refer to John Adams as a “hideous hermaphroditical character.” Supporters of John Quincy Adams, in one of America’s earliest and most famous “Yo Mama” jokes, accused Andrew Jackson’s mother of being a “common prostitute” and the wife of a “mulatto man.”

While these tactics are older than universal male suffrage, they’ve been transformed by a communication age where misinformation can be delivered faster and more anonymously than ever before. So a politician can appear to remain above the fray while his staffers busily attack his opponent’s credibility. Especially in an election with little substantive disagreements between the front runners (regardless of the question, “change” is always the correct answer), even the most ridiculous rumor can cause harm.

In the 2000 primary, Sen. McCain went into South Carolina with high momentum from a New Hampshire win but emerged crippled after rumors circulated questioning his sanity, his conduct during the Vietnam War, and his alleged illegitimate black child. Although McCain explained that the black girl in the family portrait was an adopted child from Bangladesh and demanded that Bush recant the Vietnam accusations at a debate, the campaign had already foundered, and McCain lost speed and credibility.

The following are some notable rumors and whispers traveling through cyberspace and amongst voters in primary states about major candidates in each party.

Barack Obama is a religious extremist: In one of the most highly publicized rumors, two different chain e-mails, and even the publicized story.

Hillary Clinton is a cheapskate lesbian: According to The Washington Post, Hillary Clinton and her staff were accused of not leaving a tip after eating lunch at a Toledo diner. They responded, within a day of the media circus, that the restaurant staff received a $100 tip for the $157 meal. In addition, allegations from Edward Klein’s book, The Truth About Hillary, that Clinton is a lesbian have reemerged. Clinton continues to deny the allegation. To preempt and combat dirty campaign tactics, Clinton has actually hired college students to search the internet for rumors and fact check before the mainstream media and voters get wind of them.

Rudy Giuliani married his second cousin: Members of the media and of the religious right constantly point to Giuliani’s infidelity and multiple divorces as a source of embarrassment and character flaws. However, the boldest accusation claims that Giuliani had his first marriage to Regina Peruggi annulled after 14 years by the Catholic Church when he discovered that she was his second cousin. Unlike the previously stated rumors and attacks, this one is fun because it happens to be true.

Mitt Romney has an albino son: In a ridiculous rumor, Black Dog Press reported that Romney is hiding a French, homosexual, illegitimate albino son. This charge is far more humorous than truthful. Allies of his Republican rivals have, on the other hand, begun to draw attention to a column in the Salt Lake City Tribune that claimed that Romney is the “son of a Mexican.” For a candidate whose immigration credentials have been doubted, Señor Romney’s campaign may take a hit from the right for this surprise from his árbol de familia.