Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down...

... we love dirty laundry! (though it MAY not work): Kelly Arthur Garrett, the Herald's best-damn political reporter, questions whether that "dangerous lefty" really is losing support to the "lackey running dog of the imperialist gringos": The latest voter preference poll released by EL UNIVERSAL Sunday confirmed conservative Felipe Calderón's slight lead in the presidential race, and validated the National Action Party candidate's decision to unleash a barrage of negative campaigning aimed at branding his chief oppo nent, former front-runner Andrés Manuel López Obrador, as “a danger to Mexico.” But neither the El Universal survey, nor six others released since the morning of the April 25 televised candidates' debate, has settled the question on every body's mind: Who is going to be the next president of Mexico? ... The [El Universal]poll has Calderón with 39 percent of likely voters, López Obrador of the Party of the Demo cratic Revolution (PRD) with 35 percent, and the Institutional Rev olutionary Party's (PRI’s) Robert Madrazo at 21 percent. Calderón gained five points since the last, pre-debate El Universal poll, while López Obrador, who skipped the debate, fell three. There has been a 14-point swing since March, when López Obrador held a 10-point advantage over Calderón. Since then, Calderón has pounded hard on the “danger” theme, accusing the PRD candidate of running up debts while mayor of the capital and of accepting help from Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. More recently, Calderón has tried to associate López Obrador with the violent tactics of community groups in the troubled State of Mexico town of San Salvador Atenco, and with the newly re-en ergized Zapatista rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos.... [Lorenzo] Meyer wrote in his weekly Reforma column “...in an act as opportunistic as it was unethical, the PAN candidate decided to connect AMLO with the violent recent events in Atenco to reinforce the idea (that he is a) danger.”