Campaign ’08 Rocked by Outbreak of Accountability

It’s not at all shocking when candidates and their assorted aides take pot shots at each other as they slog through the long and dirty campaign trail, but it’s at least a bit surprising when they ‘fess up to it. That’s just what happened — twice! — in about 24 hours.

The first mea culpa, chronologically speaking, came from GOP candidate Mike Huckabee, who apologized to Mitt Romney at Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate for wondering out loud (and within range of a New York Times reporter) whether Mormons believed that Jesus and Satan were brothers.

Then, on Thursday, came the resignation of a Hillary Clinton national campaign co-chair, Bill Shaheen, who committed a similar faux pas by calling attention to a less than savory detail about rival Democratic candidate Barack Obama’s past.

AP via Breitbart.com:

Presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday accepted the resignation of a top adviser who a day earlier suggested voters should ask rival Barack Obama if he were a drug dealer.

Bill Shaheen, a national co-chairman for the Clinton campaign, raised the issue during a Wednesday interview with The Washington Post, posted on washingtonpost.com.

“I made a mistake and in light of what happened, I have made the personal decision that I will step down as the co-chair of the Hillary for President campaign,” Shaheen said in a statement released by the campaign. “This election is too important and we must all get back to electing the best qualified candidate who has the record of making change happen in this country. That candidate is Hillary Clinton.”

Read more