Wow, McCain goes negative and it's barely August? Of course we've come to expect a steady, more subtle negative campaign from surrogates, but for the McCain camp itself to dive heavy into attack mode so soon is pretty suprising.
We usually don't see this so early and when we do see negative it seems that candidates mostly leave it to party committees and "outside" groups. This may give McCain a little traction now, but it is a risky strategy. Everybody gets dirty when you're throwing mud. People already have a formed opinion of McCain. They still are learning who Obama is. The Republicans want to define Obama. Maybe these attacks will knock Obama down a few pegs, but they aren't likely to make McCain look any better to anyone other than base Republicans.
McCain's tactics are risky and they reek of desperation. What next? Go negative till election day? Tell us what a great guy John McCain is? It really seems like they are stuck with the strategy of going nasty and negative. I would guess that the RNC and 501 groups will take over from here as McCain tries to claim he will take the high road. Yet another flip flop from the man who seeks to perfect the dark art of double speak that we've come to expect over the last horrible eight years.