added the photograph of Willie Horton, a rapist who murdered while on parole and looked like a caricature of a scary black man. The campaign was won.

Stone played a role in the Florida recount that cost Al Gore the 2000 election. Bush consigliere James Baker called him in when things looked bad for Dubya. Stone thought the Cubans in Miami were the best bet because if he got them riled up enough they would scare the Florida political establishment into ruling for Bush. He took out radio adverts denouncing the recount as a "left-wing power grab by Gore in the same way as Castro did it in Cuba". The recount was passed to the Supreme Court like a hot potato.

His penchant for "swinging" brought him down while he was working for Bob Dole against Bill Clinton in 1996. The National

Inquirer tabloid caught him advertising for partners as "Hot insatiable lady and her handsome body-builder husband, experienced swingers, seek similar couples..." He has since been considered too "toxic" for official contracts.

But he still gets results. Stone found the prostitute who brought down New York Governor Eliot Spitzer while chatting at the bar of a swingers' club called Miami Velvet. He carefully noted the details: Spitzer's penchant for doing it in his socks but without a condom. One sock kept falling down. The FBI had their witness.

Barack Obama - you have been warned.