Playground is exactly the right word for it.
We have to be aware that, at this time, there are people on both left and right whose job it is to listen to all news and political statements 24x7, and isolate each and every moment to see whether it can be mined in any way for political purposes.
Half of these isolated moments are completely bogus. Little throwaway statements, casual contradictions, things stated in humor... it's all fair game to some assholes like (from the left)
Thinkprogress and
Media Matters, (from the right)
Free Republic, and
Drudge. They know exactly the game they're playing, and excuse it because the other side does it too.
The candidates themselves seem more wise to what the people want and need, and both have been utterly gracious at critical moments.