The U.S. presidential election campaign has become markedly nastier over the last 24 hours, with the two sides exchanging a series of accusations targeting their respective opponents personally.
Presumptive Republican candidate Mitt Romney charged Wednesday that President Barack Obama's campaign is "all about division and attack and hatred." Speaking to the CBS television network, the Republican challenger also accused Obama of "running just to hang on to power" and being willing to "do anything" to win re-election.
Romney's remarks came after Vice President Joe Biden, speaking Tuesday at a campaign rally in the southeastern state of Virginia that included hundreds of African Americans, said Romney's call for fewer regulations on the financial industry would put voters "back in chains."
The Romney campaign strongly criticized Biden's remarks, accusing Obama of running a campaign of "hate."
For its part, the Obama campaign said Wednesday that Romney's latest comments seemed "unhinged." Romney responded by saying that "unhinged" characterizes "what we've seen from the president's campaign." He added that the president's "personal attacks" are "demeaning to the office of the White House."
The Republican National Convention takes place the last week of August in Tampa, Florida.
The Democratic National Convention will be held the following week in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.