DENVER - When Democratic strategist Paul Begala wrote a $2,300 campaign check to Barack Obama recently, he scribbled in bold letters at the bottom: "FOR NEGATIVE CAMPAIGNING ONLY."
Obama burst into laughter when he saw the donation, Begala was told. But he and some other strategists won't be amused if Obama ignores their advice.
Increasingly nervous about polls that show a dead-even presidential race - and no bounce at all from putting Joe Biden on the ticket - these Democrats say it's time for Obama to escalate his attacks on John McCain or risk blowing an election that should be theirs for the taking.
FOR THE RECORD - An article about Barack Obama in yesterday's editions incorrectly characterized the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. The decision decriminalized abortion.
The Baltimore Sun regrets the error.
"We Democrats always pull our punches," said Joe Trippi, a Maryland-based campaign consultant. When John Kerry muted his attacks on President Bush at the last convention, it was, Trippi said, "a big mistake."
Voters universally deplore negative campaigning, but strategists see a redeeming virtue: It works. They wonder whether Obama has the backbone to do what they think it will take to hold off McCain.
The Democrat's lead in the polls began disappearing not long after McCain aired a wave of TV ads that mocked Obama as a celebrity. The Republican convention, which opens Monday, is expected to be an Obama-bashing fest from start to finish.
Some Democrats complain that their party isn't doing the same. Attacks on McCain were not a prominent feature on the opening night of the convention, and last night's keynote speaker, Mark Warner, couldn't afford to alienate Republicans because he's running for the Senate in closely divided Virginia.
Obama's convention task is more complicated than McCain's, though. As a newcomer, he needs to introduce himself to voters and make them comfortable with the idea of him as commander-in-chief.
His advisers are assuring nervous Democrats that they'll turn up the heat on McCain as the convention shifts into its final two days. This week, the Obama campaign began airing a new attack ad that portrays McCain as clueless on the economy and claims the Republican "really can't explain the price of gas or what has happened to the middle class."
Those in the get-tough camp say the anti-McCain effort won't truly be effective unless Obama himself goes negative as part of a relentless, sharply focused attack.
"The biggest problem we're facing right now is defining McCain," said Peter Hart, a veteran Democratic poll-taker. "My biggest question is: Who is going to take on McCain?"
