News to Justin Webb

AGAIN JUSTIN Webb has fallen into the trap: the belief that Republicans and conservatives ("outside the Democratic camp") will be launching attacks against Obama. He even suggests that these will be of a racial nature.

I have news for him. Not only did I belief that the Clinton camp actually want Obama to lose, but I don't recall any Republican candidates making links between Obama's race and his electability, or making a campaign ad that 'blackened' the Senator's face.

I would have guessed that Justin Webb follows US politics an awful lot, yet he appears to believe that the anti-Obama crusaders will only focus on his race. This is clearly not the case. As we've already seen, Obama is vulnerable on a number of issues particularly taxes, experience and foreign policy. This will be the main Republican line of attack, not race. With Mr Swiftboat himself, Chris Lacivita, having already run a campaign against it may not be that tricky.

Finally, Webb's assertion that George Allen's 'macaca' incident destroyed his chances of retaining his Senate seat falls a little short. In fact, Allen's campaign had recovered and looked poised to defeat Jim Webb until his staff assaulted an anti-Allen heckler a day before polling day. That was when it became clear that Webb would defeat Allen, not the 'macaca' incident.