Italian election campaign thrives on trash talk

ROME – In Italy's general election campaign, Rome's uncollected garbage has become fodder for politicians — and at least one pig.

The capital's dirty streets, lined with brimming-over, nasty-smelling garbage bins, are providing a handy way to trash the performance of Mayor Virginia Raggi, arguably the most high-profile office-holder of the 5-Star Movement. The populist party is leading in opinion polls and chasing its first premiership in the March 4 vote.

The fact that Raggi isn't running in that race hasn't stopped leaders of rival parties from recycling the city's chronic trash problem into a campaign trail issue. So when a pig was seen rooting through a pile of garbage bags along a Rome street earlier this month, rivals gleefully grabbed the opportunity.