Drudge Reports, Candidates Cower

What do a $400 haircut, a hawkish rendition of a Beach Boys tune, and a decade-old donation to Planned Parenthood have in common? They're all results of an "opposition research game" that's pitting presidential campaign teams against each other in a contest to leak dirt to blogs and news sites as the '08 race waxes viral.

Smear tactics are as old as democracy, but the modern pace and profusion of these stories, reports Salon, is defining this campaign season. For Republicans, the Holy Grail of mud-slinging is a banner headline on the sensationalist Drudge Report, the web's seventh most popular news site, and the embodiment of today's breakneck political climate. (More Drudge Report stories.)