Sometimes I run across something that's just so cool, so nifty, so neat that I have to gush about it to everyone.
This is one of those times, and if you're anything like me, the title alone is enough to make you squeal in glee:
Dirty Tricks, Cheap Shots, and October Surprises in U.S. Presidential Campaigns
By Joseph Cummins, $16.95
Today's political pundits express shock and disappointment when candidates resort to negative campaigning. But history reveals that smear campaigns are as American as apple pie. Anything for a Vote is an illustrated look at 200-plus years of dirty tricks and bad behavior in presidential elections -- from George Washington to G. W. Bush. Highlights include:
1836: Congressman Davy Crockett accuses candidate Martin Van Buren of secretly wearing women's clothing: "He is laced up in corsets!"
1912: Theodore Roosevelt is shot in the chest while preparing to give a campaign speech, then proceeds to deliver it anyway: "I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a bull moose!"
1960: Former president Harry Truman advises voters that "if you vote for Richard Nixon, you ought to go to hell!"
Arriving a full year before the 2008 presidential election, Anything for a Vote is a valuable reminder that history does repeat itself, that lessons can be learned from the past (though they usually aren't), and that our most famous presidents are not above reproach when it comes to the dirtiest game of all -- political campaigning.
Not only do you get Ulysses S. Grant being called "drunk since the first of January," not only do you get Thomas Jefferson calling John Adams "a hideous hermaphroditical character who has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman," you also get spiffy illustrations and a Sleaze-O-Meter, perfect for ranking attacks against each other.
If nothing else, it ought to help provide some context and perspective for the 2008 election... 
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