With less than a fortnight to go before the election The Royal Gazette sum up how the campaign is going.

As if anyone needed reminding that politics is a dirty business, week five was when it all got ugly.

The Progressive Labour Party took out a large newspaper advert entitled 'Dunkley versus Bermuda' trying to tie the UBP leader to hanging and flogging.

It might have led some fearful voters to thinking they must have missed the finer print in the Opposition's Agenda for Change policy pamphlet — until it was pointed out that nothing of the sort was being proposed by the UBP.

It emerged later that Mr. Dunkley had once justified the death penalty in extreme cases as a personal view while flogging has never come up.

Former National Liberal Party leader Charles Jeffers said it was clear the PLP were going after Michael Dunkley personally but the UBP had not gone after Dr. Brown on BHC.

He said attack brochures were being put out saying Dunkley had stabbed Wayne Furbert in the back which was odd when you considered Dr. Brown's part in recent PLP leadership struggles.

"I had to smile — we all know what happened to Dame Jennifer Smith and Alex Scott," said Mr. Jeffers.

"These to me are silly things because it is politics. To make out as if the only people guilty of this are the UBP is ludicrous."

Mr. Jeffers said Dunkley was being targeted because the PLP feared he might just win his gamble to remove a sitting PLP MP in Patrice Minors and also because it hoped to take out their opponent's leader.

But it was forgetting what the election should be about Mr. Jeffers said: "The PLP, which is the Government, should be saying: 'Here's what we what we promised, here's what we delivered, here's what we didn't deliver but will deliver'. The personal things — 'he's this, he's that'. I don't think people are interested in.

"Once again it all boils down to race, it isn't being said openly, it's covert. It's them or us. It's like we haven't moved past that. But unless we move past that we will never be a mature voting public."

But he said the figures showed the races were divided with blacks overwhelmingly supporting the PLP and whites overwhelmingly supporting the UBP.

Liberal pundit and former newspaper editor Tom Vesey said: "It feels like the phony war ended.

"I thought the PLP PR machine was spinning into an out-of-control frenzy this week — the UBP was perfectly right to protest vigorously about the big anti-Dunkley ads the PLP has been running, accusing him of being a right-winger who would bring back hanging and flogging.

"The UBP was completely right to say these ads were factually wrong, and the tone of them was hateful. If you look at things like that, all the statements the PLP releases, and the material on their web site, they are clearly trying to paint Dunkley and the UBP as being white right-wingers who are conspiring to take everything any Bermudian owns for their own greedy profit."

Mr. Vesey said it was clear the PLP were trying to stir up fear with outdated racial stereotypes.

"And I don't know how much longer they can do it without looking completely ridiculous or incredibly hateful and divisive."

But something appears to be working for the PLP, which according to an independent poll commissioned by The Royal Gazette, is streets ahead of the challengers.

The poll, done by former Government statistician Cordell Riley, was immediately trashed by those who found it uncomfortable reading. Other polls predicted that the UBP was marginally ahead.

And pundits also said it didn't reflect how they perceived the national mood.

Mr. Jeffers said he believed the PLP had its noses in front — but only just — from what he was hearing in the community.

"I feel the PLP will win, it's just a feeling but I believe it will be closer than some people think and that would be good for the country."

He said a number of people had told him they hoped for a narrow PLP win. "I think if a party wins with too big a majority the people get forgotten. If a party gets massive support it feels it has the right to do whatever it wants."

And Mr. Vesey said: "I was surprised by the results of The Gazette's poll. My own sense is that things are a little closer now than they were at the last election, but that's not scientific and it's hard to know."

He pointed out a party doesn't just need supporters — it needs the supporters in the right constituencies — preferably marginal ones.

"Even if the poll isn't accurate, it must have been demoralizing for the UBP candidates and a boost for the PLP candidates."

And he said the PLP must have benefited this week from its position as Government, with the series of feel-good announcements, like new low-cost family housing at Southside, and the relocating of the investment giant Invesco to Bermuda.

The week also saw Alex Scott urge PLP supporters to hold their noses and re-elect the party even if they didn't like Ewart Brown, effectively saying the party would remove him if the result was tight.

It was a stance branded bizarre by another Brown critic Renee Webb and Mr. Vesey said it would have harmed the party.

"We had Alex Scott telling everybody yet again that people who don't like Dr. Brown should vote PLP anyway — the party can ditch him after the election.

"I was surprised when Mr. Scott said it the first time, but not as surprised as I was when he said it again. It's a curious proposition, voting for someone on the theory that he'll be kicked out if he wins."