"Politics ain't beanbag." That stuff actually doesn't sound so extreme to me in comparison to many political campaigns although I can see there is some element of sleaze. It sounds like there was some truth in both charges. When Nixon was once questioned about how he could justify using similar tactics he said, "You don't understand. The point is to win." (Maybe he's not such a good example.)
I remember how outraged Susan Estrich was during the 2003 recall election when the Los Angeles Times ran a story on what Estrich called "the Thursday before the Tuesday" about a 20-year-old groping allegation against Schwarzenegger that allegedly occured on a movie set.
I also remember how Bill Simon was running against Gray Davis in 2002. Davis' allies had trumped up an indictment against Bill Simon's company in August (two months before the election) alleging him of defrauding his partner in a pay telephone deal. The company was convicted (not Simon himself) and ordered to pay $78 million in damages. Simon, of course, lost the election. After the election, the conviction was overturned by the appeals court after it was discovered that the other party was a convicted drug trafficker.
This is just how Democrat politics works in California when you're a Republican. To see how Democrats are treated, just look at how Don Perata's investigation quietly went away.
-PJ