Why then attack Romney this early? The easy answer is desperation. But I also think that their passions have gotten the better of them. They’re on autopilot, and like Sunni and Shi’a, can’t imagine not fighting the other guys.

Contradiction? I wrote about Romney's conversion for National Journal and came away with the impression that the Harvard incident began the process, rather than ended it -- that it took time before Romney fully came to realize that the pro-life position was correct.

Also, Romney has always claimed that, even after his personal revelation, he never went back on his promise to Massachusetts voters.

While it may score political points among the Romney critics, the attack revealed what kind of a campaign McCain intends to run: one that’s full of negativity. It’s what turned me off last cycle when the Republican National Committee chose to engage in personal attacks instead of principled debates.

Writing critically of McCain’s campaign brings me no joy, particularly because I have at least a couple friends working there, including Patrick Hynes, whom I consider to be one of the best blog outreach coordinators in the mix.

Finally, on that note, I find Kurtz’s chart (above) interesting because it includes no new-media operative among the people in McCain’s “core election team.” It seems that National eCampaign Director Christian Ferry should have his picture there. Or maybe McCain really was serious when he called his eCampaign “one of the worst parts of our entire campaign … with the worst, by the way, staff.”

MEDVED: I was impressed, Governor, in the last debate by the way that you handled an opportunity – you were given an opportunity to slam Senator McCain and you said, ‘I don’t want to do that. He’s my friend, he campaigned for me, and wouldn’t it be a great thing if all the campaigns on our side, on the Republican side, could return to that focus, that the real enemies here, or the real opponents, are Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and John Edwards

Why isn’t McCain aiming his guns at Fred Thompson who has soared ahead in several national polls and a recently released Florida Insider/InsiderAdvantage poll in Florida? Attacking a friend and his 2000 national campaign co-chair may be dicey for McCain but eventually McCain will need to pull out all the stops to claw his way back into contention. Our McCain camp source says: “Fred Thompson is not yet in the race. He will face scrutiny at the appropriate time.” The Romney campaign sees that eventually McCain will turn his guns on his old friend when all else fails, observing: “it would be the equivalent of playing the violin on the Titanic. When that point comes—and it very well might—the ship is as good as sunk.”

This move is almost unfathomable. In the first place, McCain should be spending his efforts explaining his stance on immigration. He has said that it takes longer to articulate his position than the opposition, but he doesn't appear to be putting his emphasis there.

An attack strategy might work to distract people from the immigration issue, but if so, then McCain's attacking in the wrong direction. He has two candidates in front of him, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson. Except in Iowa and perhaps New Hampshire, Romney trails McCain in the polling. Why go after the person on your tail, rather than fight forward?

All McCain can accomplish is to lift Romney's profile. Romney, if he's smart, will simply parry the thrusts and talk about his admiration for McCain while keeping his eyes focused on the frontrunners. Third-place candidates do not win by attacking fourth-place candidates, and fourth-place candidates don't win in the reverse, either.