The sly lie. Swiftboating is a term that implies blatant misstatement of the truth in an effort to influence voters. It's character assassination writ large. As voters understand that particular betrayal of their trust, the technique becomes less effective. The game is not over, however, as potential perpetrators simply learn more sophisticated techniques to the same end.

Enter push polling. A technique which uses voter polling as a tool in which disinformation - in the form of a question - is used to misinform voter and thus influence the election. Here is a nicely documented example. Be sure and read the John Ziegler interview conducted afterward. Then read this.

Update: the WSJ on Ziegler and Zogby here.