COMMENT In the mad rush towards elections - and winning at all costs - basic decency often gets thrown out of the window. Since nomination day, this abandoning of moral, ethical and even legal standards is reaching fever pitch and epic proportions, in a last-ditch attempt by political parties to change the minds of those still undecided.

The spin doctors and the creative connivers pull out all the plugs in a desperate attempt to reach the hearts (especially) and minds (via twisted logic) by peddling fear, anxiety, reward, risk and any others that voters may have a propensity to buy into.

The best, or should we say worst in this case, trawl through their minds and through everything else to find the key inflection points which will strike the right chord with different groups of voters. In the last 10 days or so, it has become pretty obvious what they are...