Karl Rove and others will do it, leaving few or no fingerprints.  I'd bet a million dollars on it.

Meanwhile, McCain will retain "plausible deniability" as Republicans sink low in the gutter to run ads and send anonymous emails and put out fliers calling Obama a terrorist or worse.

Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins, just you wait.  It'll come as surely as the sun rises at daybreak.  And it will be slimy as a swift boat and as racist as McCain's alleged black baby.

Did you expect him to announce his attack strategy on NPR? Republicans have viciously smeared every Democratic nominee since ... well, ever. That wouldn't stop this year even if we nominated Mother Theresa. I can see it now ... she wants to raise your taxes to feed those wretched lower castes!

I heard Mark McKinnon's interview on NPR and it seemed to me that he was saying that he had no doubt that the McCain campaign would engage in vicious attacks on Obama. It was McKinnon's position that he just didn't want to be part of those attacks and he would, therefore, resign from the McCain campaign if Obama is the nominee.

What else do Republicans have at this point besides Karl Rove slash-and-burn politics? As Jim Webb might say, they've got "nothing to report."

McKinnon did in fact mention that he would resign if put in that position. I think that says something.

No, you can't get friendly with a crocodile
Don't be taken in by his welcome grin . . .

Is it just me or does John McCain look like he's aged 20 years in the last 18 months?

He looks like a walking corpse lately.  In 2000 he looked really healthy, like you'd get a good 4 or 8 years out of him.  The guy is in his 70's now, he was in somewhat rough physical shape to begin with, and I'm thinking that 6 more months of intense campaigning are going to break this guy down. Not that I think he's at all psychologically weak (far from it), but looking at recent pictures of John McCain I don't think that he can physically hold up.

When he chooses a running mate, that will be a very, VERY important decision.

It could very well be like FDR picking Truman.

Truman apparently came home one day after visiting with FDR and said to his wife that he would be president in a few months.  He was correct.

Age will be one of McCain's achilles heels.  Especially if a health issue comes up (high blood pressure, family history of Altzheimers, family history of heart disease, actual heart event...etc.).  For his sake and all of ours I hope that doesn't happen, but we all know it would change the political landscape if it did.

and i think that once we clear the hurdle of beating the clintons....which is still is an up hill battle btw...the general will be a piece of cake. obama won't have to move to the middle, the republicans and independents will come to him instead.

Oh aiko...oh naive aiko....if only, if only.

Huckabee's guy is a real son of a b**ch named Rollins.  You may remember him as the man who said he wanted to knock Romney's teeth out.  That's the sort of man who will happily tear down anyone you put in front of him, black or white, rich or poor, Democrat or Republican.  And he's going to be on the market for a new job soon.

If you think this isn't going to get nasty....

Sure, they'll find somebody to do the dirty work. But, I doubt it will be Ed Rollins. Republicans have found it difficult to trust him since he jumped ship to work for Ross Perot. He did run Christine Todd Whitman's gubernatorial campaign and mouthed-off to the press that he had secretly paid black ministers and democratic campaign workers in order to suppress voter turnout. Rollins' next high-profile candidate was Katherine Harris' Florida senatorial bid and he bailed out of that one, insulting the candidate after he left.

In short, yeah, Rollins is an SOB, but I'd be surprised if McCain would hire him. He's a time-bomb.

He's been flying under the radar of late, and I hear the Swift Boaters are regrouping themselves, so there are plenty of ready, willing, and able nasties just champing at the bit to help the Republicans. As for Huckabee, he will probably be vice-president (unless Romney negotiated for that, which wouldn't surprise me, wind sock that he is).

I agree, McCain looks very unhealthy, and I doubt he can make it through even one full term, so Huck may get the miracle he's looking for.  What I fully expect, however, is an engineered terror attack which will wrench the campaign away from the economy and back to Mc Cain's familiar territory.  What else do they have but a fifth ace up their sleeves?