(CNN)- Washington D.C.- In what signals a dramatic escalation in campaign rhetoric, less than two months before the election, the campaigns of Kerry and Bush have leveled serious allegations at each other’s candidates. Coming on the heels of the Swift Boat Veteran’s claims that Kerry rewrote the facts of his military service in Vietnam, and the Kerry campaign’s counter claim that Bush shirked his duty in the National Guard; the newest allegations have even seasoned politicians speechless.

The exchange of accusations started Thursday afternoon, when a senior Bush campaign official, speaking on conditions of anonymity, told a New York Times reporter that the Bush campaign had documents in its possession that proved that in the last months of the Vietnam war Kerry had traveled to North Vietnam with anti-war activist Jane Fonda to meet with senior Viet Cong officials. At these clandestine meetings Kerry is reported to have discussed American defensive and offensive strategies, as well as what actions would best demoralize the American war effort in the states.

Also alleged by the unnamed source was that Kerry and Fonda were given tours of some North Vietnamese prison camps where they participated in the abuse of American prisoners of war. Of the abuses Fonda and Kerry allegedly committed were the repeated administering of fast forceful kicks to the groins of the shackled allied prisoners.

This last allegation has led to the rapid formation of yet another ‘527 group’. The latest group, claiming to veterans that had suffered abuse from Kerry and Fonda while imprisoned in North Korea, calls itself the Swift Boot Veterans. They are producing a series of commercials, critical of Kerry, set to air next week in several key battleground states.

In a hastily scheduled press conference Kerry spokesman, Michael Meehan, vehemently denied the allegations; “These scurrilous allegations have nearly no basis in fact, we are deeply disappointed that Mr. Bush would allow his campaign to sink to such levels. These allegations are beneath contempt, and as such we will not dignify this slander with a response.” Meehan then added, “The American people can rest assured that John Kerry has too much integrity to stoop to the level as Mr. Bush seems willing to.”

However, only two hours later the Kerry campaign fired back with charges of its own. Senior Kerry staffers released a 200 page collection of national guard documents and police reports that they claimed to suggest that Bush was involved in the drug related deaths of several dozen Houston prostitutes. “We are not saying that Mr. Bush was involved, but all the deaths occurred during his unexplained absences from the Air National Guard… You do the math.” said Meehan.

Senior politicians from both sides of the aisle declined comment, citing a need to fully evaluate the charges and to take their heart medicine.

On a side note: In a unheard of move senior members of the Nader campaign released slanderous claims about their candidate Ralph Nader. Among the claims was that Mr. Nader had been a huge fan of Ayn Rand’s novel ‘Atlas Shrugged’ while a student in college, and that the candidate had privately admitted that he deep down thought HumVee’s were “bitchin’ cool vehicles- screw the mileage!”. Most political pundits dismissed the Nader campaign’s claims as a cry for help.