It started over at Commonwealth Watch, and Chad Dotson picked it up over at Commonwealth Conservative: a rumor that Mark Warner had given up on Tim Kaine and the Governor wouldn't be seen again with the future Governor.
Of course that just didn't make sense. I mean, if Mark Warner wants to be President, which he obviously does, a Kaine loss could be really bad! So what gives?
Well, the folks over at "The Hotline" grabbed the scoop:
When we saw this blog post asserting that VA Gov. Mark Warner was finished campaigning for candidate Tim Kaine, we did not make too much of it. [...] But when some GOP officials started circulating the post to the media, we thought we'd check it out."Nothing could be further from the truth," says Warner political adviser Mame Reiley. She said that Warner is with Kaine "lock, stock and barrel" and that Warner had actually recently asked his staff to "carve out some more time" on his schedule so that he can spend more time with his preferred successor.
So why this rumor? Because GOPers are "petrified at [Warner's] impact on the race," says Reiley.
Markos from dailyKos has this to say on the subject:
This is the tactic the GOP developed in the South Dakota senate race last year -- leak damaging information, irrespective of the truth, onto blogs. Then, GOP party and campaign officials circulated those blog posts to the media, demanding that they follow up on the allegations. Media, afraid of being called "liberal", wrote about the allegations.It's now clearly SOP, and Democratic campaigns need to become well versed in the blogosphere, see these attacks coming in advance, and be prepared to rebut them when necessary (as in, when reporters call asking for comment).
And note, it's not that blogs are reporting rumors or making allegations -- it's that Republican operatives then push those blog posts on to the media. Even when they are patently and obviously false as claiming Warner is ditching the Kaine campaign even though his schedule is full of joint events.
So how's it feel to be a puppet for a national GOP smear tactic, Chad? You must feel dirty. Maybe a shower, and a beer will help. Afraid there's no football until the weekend... sorry, man.