This Ain't Top Dead Center

Senator Obama listen up. You may not think they're in your head so let's try and explain it in a different way. Let's just say that the Rovean approach is to get under the hood of your car.
There is something under there called ignition timing and it has to do with an exact moment when gasoline vapor is compressed and spark plugs fire. If it occurs at the right moment your car runs great. This moment can be adjusted to either side of what is called, top dead center, or TDC. Depending on how much your timing is set away from TDC your car runs more and more poorly or even not at all. Karl Rove has taught his disciples to do whatever it takes to keep your car adjusted off of TDC. And if I may say so, they're doing a pretty good job of it right now. In Simpler terms-they are driving the debate or how about starting a lot of fires they know you'll try to put out.
Surely you have someone on your staff to remind you that under the circumstances you shouldn't try colloquialisms that have anything to do with pigs right now. Remember when Sen. Clinton, refusing to back out of the race and explaining why, mentioned one too many times that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in the month of June. People were appalled because she uttered the assassination word. She needed that same person on her staff to.
I know you have plenty of people around you who could take on a little more responsibility. That same person could have given you a much better line like, do you know what the difference is between President Bush or Vice President Cheney and Gov. Palin? Lipstick. Now, that one may have worked. Maybe even to fix the lipstick on a pig comment.
I realize that you are terrified of swift-boating but your situation is much different. Unless I'm mistaken there doesn't seem to be a lot of people in your past that are going to come forward to attack you. I know a guy who went to school with you in Hawaii and says nothing but nice things about you and this seems to be the general impression of everyone. Besides, you would know by now if there were any such people in the wings.
Remember, it is not dirty politics to discuss your opponents shortcomings. For example most people realize that "drill baby drill" is not a long term energy policy. And many agree with the Alaska Wildlife Alliance who said that Sen. Palin's philosophy is "cut,kill,dig and drill." In fact I think that you need to dust off, re-assert and be proud of a few principles of the democrat party and the environment might be a safe place to start.
Also, please stop explaining things in such detail. The crowd your trying to win over at this point has a limited attention span and thinks they're hearing re-distribution of wealth every time you go near economic fixes. You need quick pulses like, you'll bring tax relief to 95% of Americans. While we are here, please drop the neighborly talk, you already have the vote of the people with heart strings. And on the ethics front, another pulse might be, Sen. McCain has 159 lobbyist working on his campaign and you have none. At some point you may want to point out that your Vice Presidential nominee is not under investigation for abuse of power and that Alaska's Department of Public Safety Administrator, Dan Spencer said, that ebay thing didn't work out very well.
To combat McCain's veteran status how about contrasting your work on veterans legislation with his.
Finally, you can marvel at how dirty they are or you can marvel at how well they play the game, It's up to you.
One more point on energy. You need to make people realize that this isn't some gift that Alaskans are willing to bestow on the lower 48. This week every man woman and child in Alaska will receive 3269.00 dollars just for living there. This goes a long way to explain Gov. Palins approval rating but more so explains that they won't bite the hand that feeds them. Alaska's a red state with 3 electoral votes, you can afford to piss them off a little. The bloom on Gov. Palin's rose will begin to wilt soon and you should be ready to pounce because it's your turn to get them off of top dead center.