Original Mavericks?

ORIGINAL MAVERICKS?.... It's been hard to miss the talk in Democratic circles that the Obama campaign would do well to not only get more aggressive, but to do so with a sharper edge. If the campaign's latest television ad is any indication, party backers will probably be thrilled.

Yesterday morning, the McCain campaign unveiled a new spot, describing McCain and Palin as the "original mavericks." Late yesterday, the Obama campaign responded.

For those of you who can't watch clips from your work computers, the voice-over tells the audience, "They call themselves mavericks. Whoa. Truth is, they're anything but. John McCain is hardly a maverick when 7 of his top campaign advisors are Washington lobbyists. He's no maverick when he votes with Bush 90% of the time. And Sarah Palin's no maverick either. She was for the bridge to nowhere, before she was against it. Politicians lying about their records? You don't call that maverick, you call it more of the same."

I was particularly struck by the use of the word "lying," which is both aggressive and accurate under the circumstances.

This ad is expected to run in key battleground states nationwide beginning today. What do you think of it?