D's Worried Over Republican Smears, Dirty Tricks, Spin

The Obama campaign headquarters buzzed with energy yesterday afternoon, but there was a sense of foreboding among staffers. "We are just waiting for the Rove/Bush spin machine to kick into high gear and turn Obama into somebody we wouldn't recognize," said campaign strategist Harold Scrottle, taking a break from planning a campaign ad aimed at convincing voters that John McCain, a former POW, doesn't support America's veterans. "But what keeps us up at night is the anticipation of the dirty smears, the swift-boating, that will be attempted against Obama," worried Scrottle, who paused briefly to read an email from a 527 group asking for input on an internet effort to spread the idea that McCain has become senile. "We are planning to face a barrage of lies about Obama's past statements. They will lie and twist everything Barack has said," lamented Scrottle, before posting a blog entry on Obama's website accusing McCain of advocating more American casualties by wanting troops to stay in Iraq forever. "We will have a hard time fighting back against the Republican echo chamber of Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and Rush Limbaugh," Scrottle fretted before heading out the door for interviews with ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, MSNBC, CNN, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today.