http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7543859.stmThey promised positive, high-minded campaigns which focused on issues rather than personalities.
But as the race for the White House intensifies, the two contenders have increasingly gone on the attack.
Republican John McCain has earned huge publicity for an advert mocking rival Barack Obama as "the biggest celebrity in the world", juxtaposing the Democrat with gossip magazine regulars Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
But Senator Obama has not hesitated to lambast his opponent and his allies as "cynical", "desperate" and "in the pocket of Big Oil".
Negative campaigning is, of course, hardly be a new phenomenon in US politics - and as Professor Shanto Iyengar of Stanford University attests, it is often the quickest way for politicians to grab attention.
"That is a stock approach here - candidates use controversial personal attacks as a means of attracting free news coverage," he says.
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