Jim: Winner for Worst Political Theater: Am I mean to nominate the ad for Lamont that featured the creator of Daily Kos? Could I argue that the concept that putting a blogger – not just Kos, any blogger — in one’s political ad is the worst political theater in, oh, forever?

Runner Up: The recurring bouts of “sock puppetry” in the blogosphere.

Cam: Yeah, the Kos ad is pretty bad. I mean really, Gary Coleman is probably more helpful to a campaign ad than Kos. At least most people know who Gary Coleman is. And he could have looked up into the camera and said, “Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Lieberman?” Now see, that would have infused me with the old Ned-drenaline.

But since we’re not allowed to just say “yep, I agree”, I’ll go with an event still in the headlines. Can we not just feel bad for Sen. Tim Johnson and wish him a speedy recovery? Do we really have to be subjected to all of this political analysis about a guy who had a stroke? Maybe I’m just overly sensitive because of some health issues in our family right now, but it just seems a little crass.

Marshall: Well, this is a toughie. I’m inclined to agree with Cam that the Johnson death watch ought to prevail, especially given the absurd moonbat conspiracy theories blaming Karl Rove for his sudden illness. However, as tempting as that is, I think I’m going to have to go with every campaign stunt over the last twelve months that involved sending a staffer with a video camera to shadow the other guy. These stunts manifested themselves in the Allen Macaca moment and the Harold Ford meltdown. And while these made for entertaining (and revealing) campaign moments, the kind of dialogue they foster is unseemly, and one we should all be ashamed of. Indeed, I’d love to see campaigns over the next two years take a step back and stop using this sort of theater. Heh. Yeah right. With YouTube? I know it’s never going to happen. We’re stuck with this sort of idiocy now and forever more.