Something which should not be a factor, but will be. A few voters will turn away from Bush for not de-crying this program strongly and specifically enough, but most Americans give a guy the leeway to attack back in kind when he has been attacked. Kerry's convention made this not only possible, but inevitable. Didn't a 527 from the left call GWB a deserter and demand the ANG attendance records from the early 70's? Didn't they call him a draft-dodger? Didn't the Chairman of the DNC? But, whoa, an ad that uses Kerry's own Senate testimony, that's over the line! You can't use his own testimony, whether or not it's in the public domain! That's over the line. Look at the 5's and 1's on this list. Look who is decrying this and were so silent when our sitting president was attacked, because he didn't have a D after his name. Yep, there certainly is outrage now. UPDATE TO scarlet: Maureen Dowd is a left-wing opinion writer on the NY Times Editorial staff. She knows that those operatives exist (on both campaign staffs) and have since the 1940's, and before). To think that only one party has them, and the other party boasts the likes of Bill Clinton, James Carville and Terry McAuliffe is almost funny.
