READER BEN BORWICK WRITES:

Why are you carrying the torch for James Webb? The guy is a complete scum-bag, severely ethically and morally challenged, has run arguably one of the dirtiest campaigns in Senate history…..ok so Allen has the macaca story, but let’s face it he has his previous tenures as Governor and Senator to judge him by…..

Actually, I’ve gotten a lot of email like this, to go along with accusations that I’m Harold Ford’s “butt-buddy.” I just call ’em as I see ’em. Webb’s campaign has been kind of lame, but so has Allen’s. (Though Allen’s rapid-response has gotten a lot better since he hired a blogger, it speaks badly of his judgement that he didn’t do that until he was in deep macaca.) The plagiarism charges against Webb seemed suspiciously timed, and I said so. That’s hardly an endorsement of Webb, though in fact I don’t think it would a disaster if Webb won.