If the Bush operatives were caught a bit by surprise, they have only themselves to blame. But the real electricity was turned on last week, more quietly, over the telephone. The Gore campaign began phoning households, especially senior citizens, with automated messages designed to scare the recipients away from Bush.
Fear is a powerful emotion, and such appeals to fear sometimes work.
But Gore's campaign probably made a mistake. They began the calls two weeks before the election, allowing the Bush campaign ample time to respond. Surely the right response is to turn the phone calls back on Gore as a prime example of his willingness to say and do anything to win. In fact, Bush could make Gore's stealth attack a dominant issue in the campaign's final days. And these flaws are in turn a reminder of the unwholesome nature of the Clinton-Gore administration.