UPDATE, POST-WISCONSIN: This TPM Veracifier video makes the point better than a mere blog diary can:

Nuff said…

We’ve all seen it happen before: the leader in a primary “ganged up on” by the trailers. Kerry and Gephardt did it rather crudely to Dean four years ago in Iowa, the pile-ons against Mitt Romney in this go-around’s GOP contest. But I’ve never seen it happen quite this way. NYT on Friday:

“It was very clear to me that Senator Obama had agreed to having public financing of the general election campaign if I did the same thing,” [Republican candidate John McCain] said after a town hall meeting here. “I made the commitment to the American people that if I was the nominee of my party, I would go the route of public financing. I expect Senator Obama to keep his word to the American people as well.”

TPM today:

the Clinton campaign “hammered rival Barack Obama on Sunday for refusing to reaffirm his commitment to accept public financing in the general election, a development a top aide criticized as “a pretty big flip-flop” and an opening for Republican attack.”… The issue isn’t public financing, the Clinton campaign says, it’s the flip-flop. “That’s not change you can believe in,”

Obama has received a lot of criticism (and rightly so) for using right-wing talking points on progressive policies and Democratic issues, lending that rhetoric further credibility and helping prop up a conservative hegemony. In recent moths, however, he has thankfully started to move away from that nasty habit…

…so now we have the Clinton campaign, not onl jumping on board with a right-wing attack, but amplifying it, exploiting it, and then – with an ironic absurdity – leveraging it’s increased volume as a reason in and of itself to dent Obama the nomination.

WHile the Clinton campaign is entitled to use what lines of messaging it wants, this strikes me as another example of what many bloggers have referred to as “slash and burn” or “scorched Earth” politics. Informally (I assume) co-operating in message lockstep with GOP Nominee-in Waiting John McCain in a twisted synergy – allowing Clinton a rhetorical club to try and retake the momentum, while giving McCain renewed hope that he will have the Democratic opponent he obviously prefers.

Regardless of how it does or doesn’t play out in terms of the primary, such a coordinated attack with the McCain campaign only damages Democratic chances in the long run if Obama is the candidate, enhances McCain if it’s effective, and minimizes Democratic enthusiasm and greater momentum in November.

I mean, I know the Obama minions have been telling me ad nauseum that their candidate will magically bring Republicans and Democrats together, but I don’t think this is what they had in mind…

If you live in the O.C., and you’re interested in volunteering for the Obama effort, come to an organizational meeting tonight (Monday).

The meeting is in Randolph, 7 p.m., at Village Pizza.  

I've been out of town since Thursday, so the recent courtship of John Edwards by both Obama and Clinton as described in this evening's NY Times is pretty intriguing.

Open thread, anyone?