In the final days of campaigning, candidates fighting for a place in Congress are selling themselves and bad-mouthing their opponents in a barrage of negative advertisements.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]From California to New York, Americans are being fed a digital diet of television commercials that attack political candidates. The New York Senate race between incumbent Al D'Amato and challenger Charles Schumer is one of the most brutal.

''Chuck Schumer: Full time pay. Part time work,'' accuses one D'Amato ad.

Radio 5 Live's Phil Taylor reports

''The Truth: Chuck Schumer has a 92% lifetime attendance record. D'Amato. Too many lies for too long,'' counters Mr Schumer's ad.

A Schumer attack ad

Paid-for political TV commercials are deadly weapons, but they are also risky. And so the ads are carefully crafted. In designing an advertisement, political consultants don't leave anything to guesswork.

"We do focus groups. We do extensive polling every single night," said Paul Wilson, who is masterminding the campaign for Republican gubernatorial candidate, George Ryan.

"We are up at midnight waiting for the numbers and stay up 'til 2 am analysing them. And then [we] get up the next morning and cut television commercials,"

"We work two to six, maybe even eight hours" on a 30-second campaign ad, added Leslie Rowlston, a video editor who is also working on the campaign.

"We try to make it keep your attention, keep you informed and not leave any blank spaces," she said.

Furore over ads - not their content

But the biggest difficulties are not for political consultants who make the ads but the Federal Communications Commission - the governmental agency responsible for overseeing American television.

A number of groups have voiced their opposition to the system of televised campaign advertisements.

"One of the reasons the people who are against this process are so concerned is that a great, great amount of the money that is flowing to candidates if flowing from so-called special interest groups," said FCC spokesman Bobby Baker.

"To me that is ... the biggest problem. There are the interest groups who may represent very, very small minorities of people, but because they are very aggressive [and] they have very clever ways of raising money, I think they have a disproportionate influence over the way that many, many important things happen in this country," Mr Baker said.

The American way

Paul Wilson, the Steven Spielberg of political television commercials, defends this truly American way of campaigning.

"Political debate should be wide open and robust, and what our system allows for is just that kind of give and take. It's like speaker's corner, where you can stand up on a soapbox and say anything you want, and that's the way it should be," Mr Wilson said.

Leslie Rowlston ticks off another commercial in the can. She's laid back about her job, but as a citizen, probably speaks for many Americans.

"I build great commercials for whoever walks in the door," she said, but when it comes to her personal politics, she admits she doesn't give a damn.