Strategy

How about this for a strategy? Let MoveOn bank up a bunch of truthful but critical anti-Bush ads. Then let one out every time a truly "shadowy 527" runs a smear about Kerry. After each one makes the initial splash, wait for Kerry to condemn it. When he does, drop it and wait for the next negative ad. Kerry will be clearly in opposition to the tactics of negative campaigning yet there will be no ground ceded to Karl Rove. You could even publicly announce that such is your plan. When the negative ads stop coming from the Bush surrogates, MoveOn also stops. In this way the political debate will be not so much controlled as it is trained.