By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer 

Have Democrats decided to dish the dirt about their rivials?   Read and respond. 

Posted Nov. 18, 2007 – Over the weekend, I got an email from Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) campaign calling for his rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), to put up or shut up. 

Obama was responding to a story in the “New York Post” by conservative columnist Robert Novak, who wrote that Clinton operatives had started a “word-of-mouth” campaign alleging scandalous information existed about Obama.  “The nature of the alleged scandal was not disclosed,” Novak said.

Not mincing words, Obama responded. “She, of all people, having complained so often about ‘the politics of personal destruction,’ should move quickly to either stand by or renounce these tactics,” he said in a statement.

Recalling Clinton’s criticism of “mud throwing” in politics during the Las Vegas debate, Obama challenged his nemesis. “But in the interest of our party, and her own reputation, Senator Clinton should either make public any and all information referred to in the item, or concede the truth: that there is none.” 

Obama’s “in your face” response was a first.  I don’t recall any of his communications being this strongly worded.  

 So where did the story come from?  Novak is no novice in reporting on politics – or in stirring up a hornets’ nest when it comes to those outside his political tastes. Remember, he’s the one who outed Valerie Plame in a 2003 column in The Washington Post, letting the world know that she was an undercover CIA agent. Bush administration officials leaked her name to Novak following the disclosure by her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, that the administration had greatly exaggerated reports about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. A grand jury investigation followed and  Lewis “Scooter” Libby was indicted for perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to federal investigators.
Phil Singer, a spokesman for the Clinton camp, denied anything to do with the Obama smear story, telling CNN Saturday, “We have no idea what Mr. Novak’s item is about and reject it totally.  Instead of pointing fingers at us, Senator Obama should get back to the issues and focus on what this election is really about.”

Look, the Democrats don’t need to play “gotcha.”   If they start calling names, flinging mud and running with rumors, the party’s nominee will hear it all, play by play, from their Republican opponents. 

They better get a lid on this quick.  And if the Clinton campaign is found to be at the bottom of this, the fallout could harpoon two frontrunners, making room for a new one.