I was inspired several days ago thinking about one of the tactics (illegitimately) employed by crowd control peace officers to consider how such a poisoning of the well could be applied to a political race. I came up with several attacks that I think could work quite well. Admittedly the attacks aren't directly analogous to police instigators in a crowd, but it was that which started the thought process.
One such attack could be the following:
Candidate Foo is running a close race with Candidate Bar and either he, or his staff wishes to destroy Bar's public image.
- Candidate Foo sends one or more of his loyal staff members (individuals henceforth unconnected with the campaign would obviously be best) to work for Candidate Bar's campaign.
- Foo's clandestine operative waits for a signal or a predetermined time to announce allegations of improper sexual conduct on the part of Bar--experimenting with the sex of the covert op in relation to Bar's is an interesting tangent.
Note that the timing is critical. The key would be to release the allegations at just the right time so that it's critical to the outcome of the election, but not so early that the actual truthiness of the allegations could be assessed--at least not in the eyes of the public.
Other attacks could involve releasing materials which are not approved by Candidate Bar on behalf of his campaign office at a critical time, or--if the operative were extremely dedicated--committing a crime whose blame could be laid upon the candidate himself.
I have to assume this sort of tactic has been employed prior to the present. I'd be curious to know it's rate of effectiveness.