Mudslinging

Noun

 * 1) Casting aspersions with intent to discredit.
 * The campaign degenerated into mutual mudslinging, each candidate trying to tarnish the other's repuation and looking bad in the process.
 * 1) An act of mudslinging.
 * The mudslinging didn't help expand the media coverage of the issues; all that was reported was the mudslingings.

Thesaurus
attack, blackening, character assassination, defamation, defamation of character, defilement, denigration, dirty politics, last-minute lie, malicious defamation, muckraking, mudslinging campaign, name-calling, political canard, revilement, roorback, smear, smear campaign, smear word, vilification, whispering campaign