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The presidential campaigns are blowing smoke so thick that some voters are having a hard time peering through it.

There is a 'trusting bias' such that people are inclined to believe more than disbelieve. There is also a sort of apathy or 'cognitive laziness' where many don't do the scrutinizing necessary to try to determine if something is a truth or lie. They don't question, don't bother to fact-check," Riggio said. "So many voters simply default and think, 'He said it; it must be true.'"

What's worse, lying turns off informed voters who eventually become deeply cynical of anything campaigns put out as "spin."

"Voters are confronted with a firestorm of contentious ads, each followed by an immediate and aggressive denial, almost all of it devoid of evidence," said Joe Urbany, a University of Notre Dame marketing professor who studies the impact of negative campaign advertising. "It's impossible to distinguish fact from conjecture from fiction."

Take for example Romney's assertion that Obama wants to remove the work requirement from welfare reform.

"Under Obama's plan (for welfare), you wouldn't have to work and wouldn't have to train for a job. They just send you your welfare check," a Romney ad says.

That's such a whopper that the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact website, which grades the truthfulness of politicians' statements, gave the comment a "Pants-on-Fire" rating on "Truth-O-Meter."

"The ad's claim is not accurate, and it inflames old resentments about able-bodied adults sitting around collecting public assistance. Pants on Fire!" PolitiFact wrote.

Then there's the new attack ad by a super PAC backing Obama that appears to blame Romney for a woman's death from cancer after his company, Bain Capital, shut down the steel mill where the woman's husband worked.

"When Mitt Romney closed the plant I lost my health care, and my family lost their health care," the woman's husband, Joe Soptic, says in the ad put out by Priorities USA Action, the main pro-Obama super PAC. "A short time after that, my wife became ill. I don't know how long she was sick, and I think maybe she didn't say anything because she knew we couldn't afford the insurance."

It's a sad tale, but it's not accurate. {accurate timeline can be found at http://whitehouse.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/07/ad-linking-romney-to-death-
of-the-wife-of-a-laid-off-steelworker-not-accurate/ , however, it's amusing that "Mitt Romney campaign spokesperson Andrea Saul said that Spotic and his deceased wife, who passed away from cancer in 2006, would have had access to health care coverage under Mitt Romney’s controversial universal health care coverage plan he passed as the governor of the Bay State. 'If people had been in Massachusetts, under Governor Romney’s health care plan, they would have had health care,' said Saul." Which statement is bringing much amusement, given Romney has put as much distance between himself and "Romneycare" as possible}

Then there's the Obama campaign's relentless attacks on Romney's tenure as head of the private equity firm Bain Capital — a move GOP strategists say is a distortion.

The so-called "war-on-women" narrative deserves its own chapter in this campaign season's shades of gray. The distortions range from Romney's assertion that "women account for 92.3% of the jobs lost under Obama" — a statement that PolitiFact rated "mostly false" to an Obama ad that claimed "Romney opposed abortion, even in cases of rape and incest" — a statement that rated a "Pants on Fire" rating from PolitiFact.

To be sure, campaigns distortions aren't a new strategy. However, the tactic in this campaign season seems to be throw stuff out there and see if it sticks, and if it doesn't, try something else, Riggio said.

Many voters "focus on the lie and ignore the elements," he said, adding campaigns count on this. "If you sling so much mud at someone you figure something is going to stick."

But savvy voters will be able to distinguish truth from tall tale.

"We understand the arena and write it off to politics as usual," Urbany said. "It's dishonest to flop in soccer, but it's an accepted part of the game."

Plus, continuously distorting the truth has a price

"I think that it takes a very big and clear lie for a politician to be labeled untrustworthy," Riggio said. "Moreover, the media plays a big part in focusing on the lie, driving home the point to the level where people, all but the true supporters, label a politician a liar."