From The Baltimore Sun
By Hal Piper

I hope the Democratic National Committee doesn’t blow the election for Sen. Barack Obama.

On paper, this seems to be a can’t-lose year for the Democrats. If peace and prosperity are election winners, what are war and economic anxiety? Party registration trends favor the Democrats, too. And in Mr. Obama, they have a candidate whose person, biography and rhetoric all point to the possibility of breaking away from the poisonous partisanship of recent decades.

Unfortunately, Mr. Obama is backed by a committee that seems to be stuck in the old “wedge issue” politics that elected Republicans in seven of the last 10 presidential contests.

I received recently a “campaign survey” over the signature of Howard Dean, chairman of the DNC, purporting to seek my guidance as the party formulates its strategy for the fall election. It is, of course, a funding appeal, but its distortions and leading questions are also designed to inflame my contempt for those Republican rascals. One question asks:

“Do you believe that John McCain’s pledge to keep troops in Iraq for another 100 years will be a liability in the General Election?”

Senator McCain made no such “pledge,” as anyone can see on the YouTube clip. Democrats who insist on twisting his words had better shut up about Rush Limbaugh or Fox News quoting Democrats out of context.

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