DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE Senator Barack Obama has been showing up in more spam emails than his US presidential election rival, Republican nominee Senator John McCain.

Spam researchers at Secure Computing reported that Obama's name was used in dodgy email subject lines seven times more often than McCain's last month. Most of the Obama hooks appeared during a spam blitz observed in early September.

"Spammers ran a big campaign around the time of the Republican convention," reported Sven Krasser, director of data mining research with Secure Computing. "Since then, it's been a little more equal, although there's still a bias for Obama."

But spammers do have a sense of humour, apparently. Some the spam subject lines that crossed Secure Computing's data mining radar last month included:

"Barack Obama Team In Crisis As George W Bush Lends Him 'Full Support'"

"Obama Supporters Attack Hillary In Second Life"

"Jesus Endorses Obama; Four Horsemen Opt for McCain"

"Obama Ahead Amongst Voters With Similarly Weird Names"

However, the Republican party's vice presidential nominee, fundamentalist evangelical and self-described "pitbull with lipstick hockey mom" Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, seems to be edging out her opponent, Democratic party nominee Senator Joe Biden, by a slight margin of five to four in the spammers' email sweepstakes.

"Palin and Obama are the most targeted by spammers because they got more media attention during the month," Krasser said. "Spam trends generally follow media trends, they're just trying to judge what the public is interested in."

Secure Computing said that news stories about Palin outnumbered those mentioning Biden by seven to one last month.

Recent public opinion polls in the US presidential race have shown Obama's former slight lead over McCain steadily increasing in the countdown to the November 4th election day.

Secure Computing also said that phishing attacks have been rising recently in attempts to take advantage of widespread consumer anxieties triggered by recent financial turmoil. µ

L'Inq
New York Times