Josh Marshall has been doing a nice job putting out feelers for End-of-race Karl Rove dirty tricks. This is the time, in a close-fought race, that Bush's "boy wonder" campaign strategist (better described as political hit man without a conscience or shred of decency) is known to employ exceedingly sleazy campaign tactics to smear his camdidate's opponent.

There are many such cheap, rotten tricks that litter Karl Rove's past like pies behind a cow. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Straightforward smear: the publication of serious-sounding, yet groundless (and sometimes easily-debunked) untruths is a common one. The so-called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth", which has been solidly tied to the Bush campaign and Rove, qualifies. The key to such a smear is that it is played for the "impact" angle. The smear itself matters less than getting the media asking, "what will the effect be on the candidate?" Once this is accomplished, the smear gets lots of airplay, the charges seem to come from all directions, and voters are left with the impression that there must be some truth to the smear. It is helpful if those conducting the smear are able to respond to debunkings with ever-shifting rationales and new charges. Other smear attempts might involve out-of-wedlock children or affairs, child-porn charges (sexual matters make for great material), criminal behavior, etc.
   
   
2. Push-polls: the use of "telephone polling" to spread a smear is another known Rovian trick. In this trick, callers masquerading as pollsters are really used to spread rumors about a candidate.
   
   
3. Other rumormongering: Rove has a long history of using various techniques to spread rumors about an opponent. He is known to have started false rumors that Ann Richards, then governor of Texas, was a lesbian. For another example, potential rumors against John Kerry that anonymous people (with Rovian connections?) have tried to get going involve the idea that Kerry urinated on and burned American flags during his anti-Vietnam-war activites.
   
   
4. Framing an opponent: One of Rove's trademark techniques is to do something that falsely implicates a political enemy in wrongdoing. Karl Rove is known to have planted a bugging device in his own office to induce outrage that an opponent was involved in dirty tricks. Another example is the distribution of material with over-the-top, outrageous attacks against Rove's own candidate, designed to look as though the opponent was the one disseminating the attacks. Other examples of such behavior might be staged break-ins, staged vandalism, fake assaults, etc.
   
   
5. Voter suppresion: Rove has a long history of involvement in activites (criminal and non-criminal) aimed at voter suppression. He has ties to people who have illegally jammed get-out-the-vote telephone banks, ripped up voter registrations, and other dirty tricks.

The key to recognizing and defusing Rovian smears is simply to expect them. Just about any "bombshell" accusation or announcement just before the election should be considered suspect, since nothing less at that point will have much effect on the outcome of the election. That includes both announcements or accusations against one candidate or another and announcements of a different nature, the truth of which cannot be verified before the election (e.g. the threat of a terrorist attack, the capture of Osama bin Laden, etc.).

So be on the lookout. The one constant of campaigns in which Rove is involved is sleazy campaigning. He doesn't know how to do anything else, so expect it. A lot can happen in two weeks, and it should be accepted as a given that Rove will try something. It will be sweet, sweet justice to see his candidate trounced in the upcoming presidential election.