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WASHINGTON — In the waning days of the Pennsylvania primary campaign, Hillary Clinton's camp unleashed a particularly dark television ad.
Over images of Pearl Harbor, the stock-market crash, Osama Bin Laden and other calamities, a grim-voiced announcer declared: "Harry Truman said it best: 'If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.' Who do you think has what it takes?"
On the night of the primary, Barack Obama was anything but gracious in defeat. He condemned Ms. Clinton for "taking money from Washington lobbyists - from oil lobbyists and drug lobbyists and insurance lobbyists. ... You can't be the champion of working Americans if you're funded by the lobbyists who drown out their voices."
It's getting very hard for Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton to find a good word for each other. Both campaigns are becoming increasingly vitriolic. She portrays him as weak-willed, elitist, effete. He portrays her as a craven pawn of special interests.
Audience watches a primary debate between Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama live on a large screen in Philadelphia on April 16. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)
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If it's like this now, think of what it could be like in two weeks, when Indiana holds the last truly crucial primary.
Thus far, the Democrats' protracted primary campaign still appears to be doing the party more good than harm.
Pennsylvania election officials estimated that between 40 and 50 per cent of registered Pennsylvania voters cast ballots in the primary, which is twice what it was four years ago. Half a million people registered to vote for the first time, or switched their party allegiance so that they could vote in the Democratic primary.
That could give a significant boost to the Democrats as they try to hold on to that crucial swing state in November.
But along with the positive came the negative. The increasingly strident attacks by each candidate against the other are damaging both their images. In exit polls Tuesday, almost 70 per cent of voters said Ms. Clinton had attacked Mr. Obama unfairly; about half said he had been unfair to her. These are the highest numbers on that question since before Super Tuesday.
Perhaps even more disturbing, only half of all Clinton supporters say they would vote for Mr. Obama if he became the candidate. A quarter of her supporters said they would switch parties and vote Republican. Obama supporters are more generous: Two-thirds said they would be willing to vote for Ms. Clinton, if she became the Democratic nominee.
The danger for the Democrats is that as the campaign drags on through its final weeks, the enthusiasm of voters for an unprecedented contest that will choose either the first black or the first female Democratic presidential nominee will be eclipsed by the antagonism between the two camps.
No wonder Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean is pleading with the uncommitted superdelegates to make up their minds sooner rather than later, so that a clear winner will emerge.
For presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, the ongoing Democratic fight is a joy. Each bit of dirt that one candidate digs up on the other is scooped up by the Republicans. (Expect Mr. Obama's comments about bitter rural voters clinging to God, guns and prejudice to figure prominently in Republican attack ads this fall.) Meanwhile, Mr. McCain has been building a campaign organization, improving his fundraising capacity and mending political fences. And there are signs of progress.
Mr. McCain raised $15-million (U.S.) last month, nothing to compare with Mr. Obama's $42-million or even Ms. Clinton's $20-million, but enough to allow him to repay campaign debts.
Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator and a bedrock social conservative who had previously said Mr. McCain was "not with us" on key issues, recently published an op-ed piece urging conservatives to get behind Mr. McCain's campaign. Mitt Romney, who could have done great damage to Mr. McCain's campaign by sniping from the sidelines after he dropped out the race, instead is enthusiastically campaigning for the Arizona senator, perhaps in hopes of a vice-presidential nomination.
On the other hand, the press loves a good fight. Mr. McCain is getting precious little attention from media fixated on the Clinton-Obama dustup. At this point, however, Mr. McCain is probably happy to let the Democrats have it, while he and his advisers watch from the sidelines with the camera running.
The Democratic stalemate leaves both Ms. Clinton and Mr. Obama with a choice: continue to escalate their personal attacks, knowing that the Republicans are the ultimate beneficiaries, or raise the bar of civility, at the risk of losing Indiana.
The signs all point to escalating attacks, even if it does mean that winning the nomination could cost that winner the election.
