The Post and Courier invited readers to dish dirt before the primary

It's no accident that Frank Underwood, the scheming, silky-voiced political operator from "House of Cards," hails from South Carolina.

In an election year that's already taken incendiary rhetoric to a new level, the Palmetto state's noxious primary has featured bombast from candidates on both sides. And if the mud-slinging reaches new lows, the state's largest newspaper will be well-positioned to tell the story.

Recently, The Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.) turned its readership into a network of political informants by unveiling a Web app called Whisper Campaign. At its core, Whisper Campaign is an anonymous tip line, a no-questions-asked forum that allows readers to call out examples of unscrupulous campaign tactics – push polling, slanderous robo calls, nasty mailers and defaced political signs.

Using the forum – which received 36 reports in the first two weeks – readers have called out impolitic smears against candidates on both sides of the aisle, often using varying degrees of colorful language.

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