A spate of e-mails linked McCain to an "associate" of convicted uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff. So who was this associate? Ralph Reed -- the former Christian Coalition director, who fell from grace after news reports that Abramoff had funneled gambling money to Reed. And how was McCain, who had held hearings to investigate Abramoff, "cozying up" -- as Team Obama wrote -- to Reed? It turns out Reed sent out an e-mail encouraging donors to attend a McCain fundraiser.

Pretty flimsy stuff -- and from the campaign that bristled when others tried to link Obama to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who crafted the phrase that became the title of Obama's book, "The Audacity of Hope."

And please, don't bring up the "swiftboating" of 2004 presidential nominee John Kerry -- not after Obama met with billionaire T. Boone Pickens and pooh-poohed the very notion that he should address Pickens' $3 million support for the Swift Boat group. As Obama said, "You know, he's got a longer track record than that."

Hey, I'm game. In the play of politics, campaigns hurl accusations at each other, but only the good stuff sticks, and only then because something about the charge resonates with voters.

So when I hear Democrats complain that McCain did not stay in a "cone of silence" before the Saddleback Church event, it means McCain won the exchange. It couldn't be that McCain won because he does frequent town hall meetings, and he's heard all the questions before -- and he has good answers. No, it has to be because he cheated.

The left then whines that the right plays hardball, and the right excels at slinging mud -- blind to the fact that both sides have able mudslingers, but only one side has champion poor losers.