What an audaciously, idiotic statement: "Democrats now taking sides in this increasingly contentious contest can take solace in one point: No matter who wins the nomination, the leading contenders have learned from the Republicans, aped their tactics and won’t be caught unaware by a GOP onslaught come November." J. Patrick Coolican, in Politico

Democrats toughen up - J. Patrick Coolican - Politico.com

The Republicans invented the Clinton war room then ? I get it. If Evita's minions weren't making claims about Obama's religion,drug peddling ,usurping the legacy of MLK ,then Obama would've been completely steamrolled WHEN (not if) the Republicans played the race card in the general election .

It is also a good thing that Madame Defarge has had to deal with (alleged) voter tampering (in Nevada) by Obama's camp because the Clintoon war room has had an opportunity to exercise their rapid response team.

Both of the Democrat camps have already invoked the possibility of voting machine tampering . You know they will trot out their minions of lawyers state to state in the general election to make similar charges in any closely contested state.

Coolican is right... both Democrat campaigns will be veterans at practicing dirty tricks by September .

Hello George:

Tom is right, that Coolican is right. But you, unfortunately, are wrong.

What we have here is an egg and a chicken kind of question. It's true, the Clintons are good campaigners. As a matter of fact, I'm sure they consult a poll to find out if they should "have relations" before they go to bed (assuming they DO that - yuk).

However, you seem to conveniently forget Karl Rove and his ilk like Tom DeLay. How did you do that? Does being a Republican cause short term memory loss?? I think it surly might.

You seem to think the mud will be cast only by the left. Really?? Talk about koolaid! Bwa, ha ha ha.

excon

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Bwe he he he

Because of their different campaign themes and messages (Clinton: tough and experienced fighter; Obama: fresh-faced uniter), they have taken different approaches. But the result is the same: This isn't beanbag.

“The Clintons understand cutthroat politics from A to Z, and they're willing to use the whole alphabet,” said Thomas Schaller, a University of Maryland, Baltimore, political scientist and an expert in Democratic politics.

Schaller added that the Obama campaign has its own roster of up-and-coming jugular hunters.

David Lublin, an American University political scientist, noted the “pious” atmosphere of Iowa, which has been apotheosized by press and politicos alike. No longer in the sanctified confines of those states, Schaller mused, the candidates may feel freer to take shots.

Obama is somewhat hindered, however, Schaller noted.

“They boxed themselves in as the 'Go clean' candidate. No good political deed goes unpunished,” Schaller said.

In other words, Obama's positive message of unity doesn't allow him to engage in the elbow-throwing that has been the staple of winning presidential campaigns in recent decades.

That hasn't prevented his surrogates, his union supporters or his staff from doing dirty work out of Obama's view.

So, for instance, an Obama press aide in South Carolina, where as many as half of Democratic primary voters are black, compiled a dossier of clumsy and inflammatory statements coming from Clinton supporters on Obama's race.

Obama then called for peace. Clinton followed up with a similar statement — no doubt aware she was being tainted in a voter bloc she needs.

Obama disowned his staff's tactics, as if he was unaware of what was happening in his own campaign.

The whole episode came across as Obama as noble peacemaker, even though the underhandedness of it was fairly transparent.

By using surrogates to make attacks, Obama remains above the fray. So state Sen. Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, hosted a conference call Thursday and said, “The Clinton attacks on Barack Obama's record are dishonest and frankly offensive to Nevadans.”

For her part, Clinton explicitly campaigns as the candidate who has taken the beating from the Republicans and will happily hit back. She has called this part of the campaign “fun.”

This is from Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe this weekend :

“We currently have reports of over 200 separate incidents of trouble at caucus sites, including doors being closed up to thirty minutes early, registration forms running out so people were turned away, and ID being requested and checked in a non-uniform fashion. This is in addition to the Clinton campaign's efforts to confuse voters and call into question the at-large caucus sites which clearly had an affect on turnout at these locations. These kinds of Clinton campaign tactics were part of an entire week's worth of false, divisive, attacks designed to mislead caucus-goers and discredit the caucus itself.
Marc Ambinder (January 19, 2008) - Obama Manager Accuses Clintons of Widespread Dirty Politics