So much for the rhetoric of rising above it all and setting a new tone.
Multiple media sources are reporting that Obama Campaign Manager David Plouffe admits in his new book that Obama campaign opposition researchers dug up the information about $400 haircuts John Edwards was indulging in, and then gave the information to Ben Smith of politico.com, who wrote about it.
Smith confirms Plouffe’s account here. And here is the original Smith scoop from April 2007.
Even more interesting is this passage from Smith at the end of his acknowledgement that the Obama campaign was his source on Edwards:
It’s maddening when people assume political reporting is driven by opposition research when you’ve actually dug up something yourself, but in this case, I’m in no position to contradict Plouffe’s account.
It’s also worth noting, when the pianos start falling on Mitt Romney, that a top Obama researcher, Shauna Daly, is now the DNC’s research chief.
Remember this piece of information when you start reading/hearing/seeing stories about Romney — a potential 2012 presidential candidate — that are clearly designed to make him look like bad.
