The gaming hobby of a political candidate has become an issue in a state senate race in New England, US.

Maine Republicans have created a webpage revealing that Democrat candidate Colleen Lachowicz plays an orc rogue in World of Warcraft (WoW).

Ms Lachowicz's liking for back-stabbing and poison in WoW raise questions about her "fitness for office", they claim.

Ms Lachowicz has hit back saying the attack showed the Republicans were "out of touch".

The state senate seat known as District 25 in Maine, is currently being contested by Ms Lachowicz and incumbent Republican Tom Martin. Voting takes place on 6 November.

As part of its campaign efforts, the Republican party in the state created "Colleen's World" - a website that compiles information about Ms Lachowicz's orc rogue Santiaga. An orc is a mythical human-like creature, generally described as fierce and combative.

In a statement that accompanies the webpage, Maine Republicans said playing the game led Ms Lachowicz to live a "bizarre double life" that raised questions about her ability to represent the state.

The page also detailed some of the comments Ms Lachowicz has made while talking about her orc rogue, in particular it highlights her affection for Santiaga's ability to stab things and kill people without suffering a jail sentence.

"These are some very bizarre and offensive comments," said Maine Republican Party spokesman David Sorensen in a statement. "They certainly raise questions about Lachowicz's maturity and her ability to make serious decisions for the people of Senate District 25."

The site also lists many of the 400 comments she has posted to left wing political news and discussion site Daily Kos. Maine Republicans have also posted leaflets that reproduce the information on the website.

"I think it's weird that I'm being targeted for playing online games," said Ms Lachowicz in a statement. "Apparently I'm in good company since there are 183 million other Americans who also enjoy online games.

"Instead of talking about what they're doing for Maine people, they're making fun of me for playing video games," said Ms Lachowicz.

It is not clear what effect the Republican tactic will have on the state senate race in Maine. However, many messages of support have been left on Ms Lachowicz's own webpage with some pledging cash to her campaign.

Gaming researcher Ladan Cockshut said the row revealed how gaming can be seen as a bad thing to do.

"In my work, I've spoken with many people who in their regular lives have roles of significant responsibility (as doctors, managers, or educators) but who choose carefully with whom they disclose their gaming activity," she told the BBC. "And disclosing their gaming activity is often accompanied by a degree of apology or embarrassment."

But, she added, having a gamer run for office was a "heartening" development.

"This would seem to run contrary to the other stereotypes that we love to assign to gamers: that they are lazy, antisocial people who don't have a 'real life'," she said. "Maybe this will trigger some dialogue about our perceptions of gamers and the role that games can and should play in modern society."

BBC News - World of Warcraft hobby sparks US political row

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man, repubilcan party is going down the toilet. how can people take clowns like this seriously? and the saddest thing is that any time a liberal/democrat goes after a republican in this sort of manner, fox news and everyone starts crying that there is a conspiracy against christians and conservatives in this country!

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Shhhh don't tell Ahmed!!! Repubs are pro-Pak, righteous and fiscally conservative unlike the dems and their socialist in chief Obama.

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ADMINS SUCK

Prepare for debate Donkeys instead of bringing trivial stuff.

As far as Republican for pro-pak....and Das Boot's schizophrenia regarding this.

well let's see

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kya bood-o-bash poocho ho purab ke sakino! hum ko gareeb jan ke, hans hans pukar ke...
jis ko falak ne loot ke veeran kar diya, hum rehne walay hain usi ujray dyar ke -

it's not trivial, it's your party's collective strategy for the last 4 years. make illogical and childish attacks on your opponents, and when same is done to you cry about conspiracy theories against conservatives by liberal media and politicians. it's pathetic. and regarding debate, even there you're employing the same strategy. romney did what he does best - blatantly lying in front of millions and millions of people. it's shameless. obama needs to stop being classy and respectful and call him out next time when he spews crap, and media needs to do a better job highlighting this after the fact instead of talking about BS like who had more confidence, who was more aggressive, who looked more presidential. why don't we talk about FACTS and how romney distorted them all night long.

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Doesn't seems pathetic when they won back the house and obama got his ass kicked in 1st debate.

Democrates had everything going for them in 2008 - 2 yrs later they lost the house and almost lost the senate now they on verge of losing WH. May be the strategy have been working, just saying

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of course its working. why wouldn't it work - they can say whatever they want without fear of anyone holding their feet to the fire. every effort democrats make to better the economy, better the nation gets distorted and turned into a conspiracy. if obama gets the second term, he needs to give the middle finger to repubicans and just get the job done.

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But then problem lies with democrates, no? Why can't you get ur mssg out specially if urs is truth and the right way Why blame opposition of dirty tricks

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because sensationalism sells, media laps it up. truth is that there is no magic bullet you want to make a difference takes lots of time and hard work. but where are the headlines in that? much easier to say dumb sh!t like vaccines cause mental retardation, obama is a not an american, healthcare reform means socialism, yadda yadda yaddda.

but yes, democrats have not done enough calling republicans out when they lie and are dishonest, so if obama gets a second term, he needs to give 'em a middle finger and just do what needs to be done.

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U have np with sensationalism when ur messiah was winning in 2008, all of a sudden its a problem now?

Americans don't care if president or party is right or wrong, they have smple criteria does the person have balls, and sadly democrates and the war criminal comes across as pussies.

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