$66 Million In August

Obama's fundraising phenomenon continues. Given the terrifying prospect of president Palin, I can completely understand why the money is now pouring in. My job is to flush out all the information we can find on this serial liar and get it to you. Your job is to figure out what to do with that information. But there's no call for complacency:

It doesn't mean the Democrats will outspend the Republicans this year, though. The Republican National Committee's cash advantage over the Democratic National Committee, in combination with swelling outside spending, will likely allow McCain to level the playing field, though the fact that Obama has raised the money himself, in small chunks, gives him direct control over how it's spent, and fewer concerns about technical limits on spending. An Obama aide said the campaign added 500,000 new donors to its rolls in August.

I hope Obama stops running that cheap ad about McCain's out-of-it-ness with computers and the like. It's not as vicious or anywhere near as deceptive as McCain's ad onslaught, but it's beneath the Obama campaign. It's their one current error. Correct it. Remove it.

Obama must maintain the high road. He must keep insisting that the McCain-Palin camp has no new policies to offer on the most critical issues we face, especially in foreign policy. And he must carefully and relentlessly explain what he intends to do. If he does that and refuses to take the bait, he will win. If he descends into the foul sewer where McCain now resides, he will lose.

Karl McCain knows one thing: how to smear, lie, disorient, distract, and intimidate. You can't beat these thugs and liars at their own game. Beat them at the task of government. They are unfit for it. Obama is not.

(Photo: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty.)