Mudslinging season starts early

This is what happens when the campaigning starts too soon. I'm still on this brutal work schedule through tomorrow and don't have time to get into it, but it's a classic, she said, he said, she said back, he said back, situation where everyone ends up covered in slime and no one comes out a winner except perhaps the opposing party.

I haven't followed this at all, but Joe Gandelman and the Carpetbagger Report have the quotes and good links to the reactions around Blogtopia and beyond. Short version: Maureen Dowd said that David Geffen said some mean things about Hillary and Bill. Geffen, an oldtime Clinton supporter is backing Obama. The Clinton campaign demands Obama do something mean to Geffen. Obama basically said screw you, you're no better.

This is why I'm still looking out for a late entry dark horse consensus candidate like Tester or Webb. A lot of people don't believe me when I remind them of the classic rule of campaigning, but it's held true for the 40 years I've been following politics. You need the Big Mo' to get the nomination but timing is everything. Those that build the mo' too soon, almost always crash and burn.

Meanwhile, this kind of childish taunting is only helping the other side. The Democratic candidates would do well to recognize that in taking down their opponents within the party, they could very well take the party itself out of contention.