Want to know what to expect from the presidential campaigns' bag of
dirty tricks? Well, here are your answers.
Ken Whitehouse
Nashville Post

05-30-2008 7:26 AM --
Next week, the presidential campaign should FINALLY be down to two
contenders. Sorry Libertarians, Bob Barr is not making the boards.
With this in mind, it's time to pull open your political purse strings
and check on your investments in this, the sixth edition of the
Political Futures Index.
For those new to NashvillePost.com - and there have been a lot of you
lately, so thank you - each month we rate the body politic. Much like
your financial adviser tells you to buy, hold or sell any given stock,
we do the same here - except it's politics. These "political futures"
will change from month to month, depending on how the "market" reacts
to that person's or group's maneuvering.
The ratings come from consultations with a mish-mash of political
junkies - Democrat and Republican - to assign the most accurate rating
possible at the time of publication. This unofficial consortium of
political hacks make up the "market watchers."
We won't rate all the same politicos every month, but if you'd like to
nominate someone to be added to the portfolio, shoot an e-mail to
ken.whitehouse@nashvillepost.com.
After next Tuesday's Democratic primaries, the presidential race will
subsist for a long while on a heaping helping of "he said/she said."
Sorry, Hillary Clinton fans: Just turning a phrase and not putting your
candidate in the mix.
As Barack Obama and John McCain duke it out, many of the issues they
will be debating are as predictable as apple pie. Gasoline prices,
Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan, taxes, and so on. After those issues are
covered, it gets entertaining.
Who would have guessed this year that Obama's preacher or a trip
Hillary took with the has-been comedian Sinbad would dominate multiple
news cycles. With that in mind, let's look at some other issues that
could be fodder for the political foes.

Tennessee Republican Party - Buy
This is about as easy as it gets in forecasting political futures. The
Tennessee GOP has already been reprimanded twice for interjecting
itself into the McCain campaign. The first was for the "Hussein" flap
and then more recently the "Michelle" mess. While local red staters
love the red meat, having your own presidential candidate and your two
Republican senators tell you to sit down and shut up is no easy feat.
Will it happen again? Absolutely.

Tony Rezko - Buy
Antonin "Tony" Rezko is a Chicago-area businessman whose name has
bubbled up but has yet to boil over into this presidential campaign.
Rezko, who has donated heavily to the Obama campaign, is under federal
investigation for allegedly demanding kickbacks in exchange for
obtaining contracts from the administration of Illinois Gov. Rod R.
Blagojevich.
Hillary Clinton brought Rezko to the party during the South Carolina
Democratic Primary when she discussed the fact that Obama and Rezko
bought adjacent properties in Chicago. Obama then purchased a portion
of the property from Rezko in what Clinton essentially described as a
sweetheart deal. Odds are high that this one will come up again.

Keating 5 - Sell
An oldie but a goodie is the Keating 5. In 1989, five United States
Senators were accused of corruption, thus igniting a major political
scandal as part of the larger savings-and-loan crisis. The five
senators, Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn
(D-OH), John McCain (R-AZ), Donald W. Riegle (D-MI), were accused of
improperly aiding Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the failed
Lincoln Savings & Loan Association, which was the target of an
investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board.
While McCain did suffer some heat from this episode, he has largely
taken his lumps on this issue. It might make a cameo appearance in the
coming months, but will likely die on the vine.

Lobbyists - Buy
It's all too easy to kick lobbyists around so expect them to be kicked
around, especially in the McCain camp. McCain has been tagged with
having more lobbyists on his team than any other candidate by a
landslide. Earlier this year, he even had to fend off allegations that
he had "improper relations" with a prominent Washington lobbyist.
That story died and will likely stay dead, but every McCain policy
pronouncement will be vetted to see if a big oil or big pharma lobbyist
put the words in his mouth.

Muslim - Hold
There will undoubtedly be a continuance of the whisper campaign that
Obama is Muslim and not a "true American." Sadly, those playing this
game are using it as a code word for "terrorism" and have implied that
followers of Islam are not qualified to hold public office.
While Islam does not equate terrorism, Obama is not Muslim, and there
is no religious qualification for elected office, you will still hear
it.
Obama has already addressed it, McCain has already refuted the tactics,
and the national media will be reluctant to jump into the deep end of
this pool. However, it will come up again and have to be refuted again,
but don't expect it to hang around publicly for long.