DRUDGE LINK? Traffic cop Drudge, Romney (inset)
As any good campaign staffer knows, bad news about your candidate should be blamed on your nasty, gutter-dwelling opponents whenever possible. And for the Huckabee crew, it's an easy job blaming Mitt Romney for the rash of unflattering news headlined by the Drudge Report.

The conspiracy theory came to a head after yesterday's Drudge headline claiming that Democrats considered the Huckster an "easy kill" as the Republican nominee. The Democratic National Committee, happy to sow more distrust and dirt-flinging among Republicans, categorically denied the report, saying "we've been tracking Huckabee for over a year" and sarcastically noting that Team Romney "should take heart in the fact that the Drudge Report is buying their spin."

Further fueling suspicions is a widespread belief among political pros that Romney communications aide Matthew Rhoades somehow possesses magical powers when it comes to obtaining a coveted Drudge link. Rhoades has personally met with the elusive Drudge, and was blamed/credited for a series of Drudge-funneled hits on John Kerry during the 2004 election. Since signing up with Romney, he has been suspected of building the Drudge bombs hitting other Republican candidates. According to a fall New York Times piece, McCain staffers have "cursed Mr. Rhoades's name daily this year as Mr. Drudge ran a series of photographs making Mr. McCain look old and other items, like one wrongly raising the possibility that a bump he took to the head in Iraq was cancer."

Up next, Republican aides and chatterblogs will over-analyze how Drudge frames the Huck-Romney slugfest expected to occur during this afternoon's Republican debate.

UPDATE: The National Review just posted this: "I talked with Matt Rhoades, the Romney aide who is said to be a source for many items that are prominently played in the Drudge Report. I asked him about that, and he said, 'I never talk about who I'm a source for, just like a reporter doesn't talk about who his sources are.' He also noted that the Romney campaign has been the target of attacks for nearly a year now."