<p>With less than two months until US presidential election, virtually no element of American life is escaping the campaigns' gravitational pull, which this week dragged everything from <em>The Princess Bride</em> to Converse sneakers into the mix.</p>.<p>AFP takes a look at some of the wackiest moments in the race between President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden over the last seven days.</p>.<p>Video of Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris, striding off an aeroplane in Wisconsin wearing jeans and a pair of classic black Converse sneakers had social media stomping its feet in appreciation.</p>.<p>The casual, youthful fashion choice stood as both a stark contrast in a campaign that pits two septuagenarians against one another and a sharp rebuke of decades of the sexist judgment of women politicians' clothing.</p>.<p>The Biden campaign jumped at the positive buzz, launching a new T-shirt featuring Biden's famous aviator glasses alongside Converse sneakers.</p>.<p>Republican Senator Ted Cruz learned that life is a pain when the cast of his favourite movie, <em>The Princess Bride</em>, announced they were reuniting for a virtual table read -- to raise money for the Democrats.</p>.<p>"That is the sound of ultimate suffering," superfan Cruz tweeted -- one of the 1987 classic's many quotable quotes.</p>.<p>He explained it was the sound being made by those who wished the "perfect movie" was "preserved from Hollywood politics."</p>.<p>Star Cary Elwes, who played the film's hero Westley, tweeted back that Cruz could join them "if you only left the fire swamp." Inconceivable.</p>.<p>A woman who was told she could not wear her anti-Trump T-shirt at a New Hampshire polling station because it violated the rules of neutrality fulfilled her civic duty by voting topless.</p>.<p>The woman, trying to cast her vote during a primary held in the city of Exeter, was wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words "McCain Hero/Trump Zero."</p>.<p>It was a tribute to John McCain, the late Republican taken prisoner during the Vietnam War before being released and serving in the US Senate, and whom Trump held in deep contempt.</p>.<p>"Your AC won't be safe in Joe Biden's America." It was an apparently chilling threat brandished by a Trump campaign adviser against his presidential rival.</p>.<p>Jason Miller was responding to a tweet from the mayor of Los Angeles, a Democrat like Biden, asking residents of his city to set their thermostat at 78 degrees Fahrenheit (25.5 degrees Celsius), a measure to save energy in a state plagued by historic wildfires.</p>.<p>Graphic content and Nazi swastikas interrupted a remote hearing to assess the reliability of voting machines in the state of Georgia when the Zoom session was hacked.</p>.<p>Nearly a hundred people were following the hearing, which had to be quickly suspended -- though it was resumed an hour later with increased security.</p>.<p>It was intended to respond to claims by the Coalition for Good Governance that new voting machines were unreliable and vulnerable to cyber-attacks.</p>.<p>The coalition is calling for a return to paper ballots.</p>
<p>With less than two months until US presidential election, virtually no element of American life is escaping the campaigns' gravitational pull, which this week dragged everything from <em>The Princess Bride</em> to Converse sneakers into the mix.</p>.<p>AFP takes a look at some of the wackiest moments in the race between President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden over the last seven days.</p>.<p>Video of Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris, striding off an aeroplane in Wisconsin wearing jeans and a pair of classic black Converse sneakers had social media stomping its feet in appreciation.</p>.<p>The casual, youthful fashion choice stood as both a stark contrast in a campaign that pits two septuagenarians against one another and a sharp rebuke of decades of the sexist judgment of women politicians' clothing.</p>.<p>The Biden campaign jumped at the positive buzz, launching a new T-shirt featuring Biden's famous aviator glasses alongside Converse sneakers.</p>.<p>Republican Senator Ted Cruz learned that life is a pain when the cast of his favourite movie, <em>The Princess Bride</em>, announced they were reuniting for a virtual table read -- to raise money for the Democrats.</p>.<p>"That is the sound of ultimate suffering," superfan Cruz tweeted -- one of the 1987 classic's many quotable quotes.</p>.<p>He explained it was the sound being made by those who wished the "perfect movie" was "preserved from Hollywood politics."</p>.<p>Star Cary Elwes, who played the film's hero Westley, tweeted back that Cruz could join them "if you only left the fire swamp." Inconceivable.</p>.<p>A woman who was told she could not wear her anti-Trump T-shirt at a New Hampshire polling station because it violated the rules of neutrality fulfilled her civic duty by voting topless.</p>.<p>The woman, trying to cast her vote during a primary held in the city of Exeter, was wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words "McCain Hero/Trump Zero."</p>.<p>It was a tribute to John McCain, the late Republican taken prisoner during the Vietnam War before being released and serving in the US Senate, and whom Trump held in deep contempt.</p>.<p>"Your AC won't be safe in Joe Biden's America." It was an apparently chilling threat brandished by a Trump campaign adviser against his presidential rival.</p>.<p>Jason Miller was responding to a tweet from the mayor of Los Angeles, a Democrat like Biden, asking residents of his city to set their thermostat at 78 degrees Fahrenheit (25.5 degrees Celsius), a measure to save energy in a state plagued by historic wildfires.</p>.<p>Graphic content and Nazi swastikas interrupted a remote hearing to assess the reliability of voting machines in the state of Georgia when the Zoom session was hacked.</p>.<p>Nearly a hundred people were following the hearing, which had to be quickly suspended -- though it was resumed an hour later with increased security.</p>.<p>It was intended to respond to claims by the Coalition for Good Governance that new voting machines were unreliable and vulnerable to cyber-attacks.</p>.<p>The coalition is calling for a return to paper ballots.</p>