Pardon the short diary, but I wanted to raise an idea u on the flagpole and see if anybody saluted it (with the caveat that I'm not sure if I ascribe to it myself).

First we have Wes Clark, offering a fairly harmless comment that the McCain people are smart enough to realize can be blown out of proportion among the media. One wonders if Obama's quick denunciation of Clark (which, incidentally, has got to decrease the incentive for high-profile Obama supporters to put themselves out there into the media for scrutiny, given that Obama was so quick on the trigger to condemn him, but I digress...), didn't fire off some kind of light bulb over the head of the McCain team.

Because now we have the same yarn being spun about Jim Webb. Given that both have been suggested to be potential running mates, is it possible that there's a real intention from the McCain campaign to use what strikes me as a genuine weakness from Obama (the hyper-quickness to distance himself from anyone who comes anywhere near the question of McCain's service and its relevance to the debate) to drive the decision over Obama's running mate? Do they agree with the many pundits and observers who have suggested that the dustup has removed Clark from the veep list, and are now going after the next high-profile name on the list with military cred, hoping to push Obama into distancing himself from Webb as well (and in the process, knocking him out of contention)?

I'm not saying I'm convinced this is a conscious strategy....yet... I'm jus' sayin', is all...

...surrogates of the campaigns have traded accusations of whether the camps of the two leading candidates are trying to make race an issue in the Democratic nominating process.

"Senator Obama and I agree completely that neither race nor gender should be part of this campaign," Clinton said during the debate

Bill Clinton says race shouldn't be an issue in the Democratic presidential campaign.

There is a real disservice being done to this country this election season. A service typical of what happens when our national debates play out through the simplistic, self-serving filter of the national media.