Thursday night is the first of three debates between Bush and Kerry. I hope that John Kerry and his campaign are doing everything they can to be prepared. That means not only rehearsing for the debate, but making sure they have spent more than a little time putting in place contingency plans and discussing the risks inherent in partaking in the dirtiest and most significant Presidential election known since Abraham Lincoln was first elected.

What are some of the risks? Obviously, more attacks like from the Swift Boat Liars (which Michael Tomasky thinks did a great deal in hurting Kerry) are possible. One other possibility will be some type of nasty landmine could be laying in wait for just the right time.

One reason to prepare for nasty surprises is because Karl Rove is on the warpath. He is a vicious campaigner and he believes in destroying his opponent by going after his opponent’s strengths. Truly, there are more tricks up his sleeve for which Kerry must prepare. Consider the following tale (from Bush’s Brain).

In 1986, Rove was working on Bill Clements election for governor of Texas against Democratic incumbant Mark White. Just before the debates, Mark White was doing well in the polls and it looked like Bill Clements was going down to defeat. In the midst of this campaign less than a day before the debate, a transmitting device was found in Karl Rove’s office. He told the news media about how they had come to suspect that the campaign headquarters had been bugged when they realized a reporter had gotten some very sensitive information about the campaign. So they called in some experts to search the offices for listening devices.

The news conference that Rove called on the day of the debate to talk about this event created a situation where the story about the debate and the issues that would be discussed were buried in a sea of speculation and intrigue.

The debate between Mark White and Bill Clements went on as scheduled, broadcast statewide, and no questions were asked about the bugging. But after the camera lights went off, reporters in the studio flocked to the two candidates to ask questions about the debate and the listening device.

“Well, I was surprised,” Clements told reporters. “I was disappointed. I was shocked. I think that properly describes my reaction. I don’t really have any comment about it at this time because I don’t know anything about it.”

Clements carefully considered words allowed viewers of the late newscasts that night to infer he was “shocked” and “disappointed” in his opponent, Mark White. Clearly, Rove and the ex-governor had talked about the episode.

Suddenly faced with the implications that he might be connected to the bugging episode, the incumbent governor, normally a subdued campaigner, stood before a battery of cameras, his face flushed with anger.

“I don’t know anything about it, and I would hope they wouldn’t suggest we had anything to do with it,” White said. “Obviously, we didn’t. I have no doubt there’s no possibility that anybody on my staff would have anything to do with that. It’s just ridiculous.”

The bugging did do political harm. The late Matt Lyon, who was Governor White’s speechwriter, later told his friend, Patricia Tierney Alofsin, that White got news of the bugging at precisely the wrong time.

“Mark White got word right before they went on for the debate. I know all this through Matt. Matt told me that Mark White was told all about this minutes before going on, and it just really rattled him. And he didn’t give a very good performance. If you go back and look at the debate, it was terrible. It was really from that moment on that things started going not so well for Mark White.”

As Moore and Slater reveal, the suspicion of who planted to bug moved quickly from White and his campaign to Rove and his security team and even the FBI suspected it was Rove. Nevertheless, it was effective in stopping the momentum of Mark White and was key in getting Bill Clements elected.

We know that John Kerry is extremely good at counterattacks when in the midst of battle. Hopefully, this means he is prepared for this type of sneaky trick and will find a way to reflect the spite and negative energy so it boomerangs on the gang who deals in such tactics.