A top adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign said Thursday that Democrats should give even more thought to Sen. Barack Obama's admissions of illegal drug use before they pick a presidential candidate. Bill Shaheen, a national co-chairman of Clinton's front-runner campaign, raised the issue and said Republicans would work hard to discover new aspects of Obama's admittedly spotty youth. "It'll be, 'Did you cut the cocaine with Drano before selling it? What about using crack pipes to decorate the Christmas tree? How often did you socialize with Marion Barry? Were you the go-to guy for kindergarten contraband?'".

Shaheen further observed that Republicans will be able to use wildly speculative remarks made by Democrats to raise the issue, thus insulating the GOP from charges of mud-slinging. "That's the saddest part of all," he said.

Reached for comment, a Hillary spokesperson said that while it was true that their organization is a tightly-run ship exercising strict discipline, a key selling point this primary season, in this specific instance a national co-chairman was a loose cannon speaking on his own. But some doubts remain since the campaign refused to deny it was preparing emails hinting that Obama's drug connections were established when he attended a madrassa as a child.

Campaining for his wife in South Carolina, Bill Clinton said that the proper thing for Obama to do if asked awkward questions is tell the truth. "Tell them you didn't inhale. Tell them you didn't have sex with that woman. Tell them you were against the Iraq War from the start. That's the kind of Clinton candor voters respect. People will want more of that when they cast their ballots next year."

In a specially commissioned seance for the Associated Press, Richard Nixon was contacted and said, "Man, that 'speculation' of what the opposite party will do is a brilliant way to throw mud while leaving your hands clean. If I did that in 1960, Jack Kennedy would be a footnote in history."

In a related story, the Washington Post is set to run a four-part series, "Obama Dogged By Drug Rumors," one week before the Iowa caucuses.