Panic in the Halls of the Left?

Seems like the Democrats and their poodles in the media are starting to see their sure-thing fall election sweep dissapate like so many cruel Novembers past...or else why would the Democratic Hate Machine be in a full-blown fervor on September 25th?

Let's see, first Virginia Republican George Allen was a racist for using the phrase "macaca" (which apparently was offensive to three indiginous tribes back in the late 1880's), then he was a closet self-loathing Jew, and now he's just a good 'ol Southern-boy racist. Allen's campaign rebuts the charges here. But by having to now deny that he was some type of archtypical marauding bigot, he is stuck in the classic "When did you stop beating your wife" scenario of guilt by denial. Still, this is normally a late October gambit by the MSM/Democratic party - why launch this attack so early? Do we fear a little loss of momentum, my pretties?

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, dogged by scandals and polling behind the Republican candidate, saw his supporters in the streets and in the universities bust out their ace a bit early as well:

Others think Menendez's surname -- and the state's growing ethnic mix -- may be factors, too. "I'll be blunt. It's not a nice thing to say about New Jersey, but being a Latino may be costing him in some parts of the state," says David Rebovich, a political scientist at Rider University. That view is shared in this diverse community, part of a congressional district Menendez represented for 13 years before joining the Senate in January.

But how about the New York Times, publishing a front-page article cherry-picking negative information from a internal government intelligence report to purposely portray the war on terror and the Bush administration in a negative light? (analysis by Roger Simon is excellent) Sure, this is SOP at the Times (despite how it backfired in the "Guard Memos" scandal of N'04), but why launch this broadside with seven weeks still ahead in the campaign cycle?

Seems like the left knows it is getting late early again; but nevertheless it is surprising to already be witnessing some of the tactical shrieks of panic on display above...imagine what we'll be seeing, should current trends continue, in the days before the election....