We’ve hit the three-week mark and a new strange and sad phase of this political campaign. We’ve reached the stage where you can make any kind out of outlandish attack and your opponent and the media have little time to correct the record. One quick glance at Memeorandum this morning confirms that we’ve arrived at the end game. It also confirms that it is the Republicans, trailing badly in the polls, who are throwing out all the stops. Of course, we can’t forget the National Enquirer, whose main interest is probably limited to using sensationalism to sell their rag.

If you want to know why Republicans hate early voting, it’s precisely because it allows people to vote before they are subjected to this last second smear campaign. Take Georgia as an example.

Early and absentee voting began in Georgia on 09/22/08. Among the 18% of Georgia voters who tell SurveyUSA they have already voted, Obama leads by 6 points; among those who have not yet voted, McCain leads by 11.

Net result? John McCain has a 51%-43% lead. In state after state, Barack Obama’s more enthusiastic supporters have baked in a lead by voting early. The electorate that remains is older, less technologically savvy, and less juiced about their choices. McCain has ground to make up on election day, and the only way to make it up is throw sand in everybody’s eyes, Scooter Libby-style.