Democrats Doing Opposition Research For 2012

The Democratic National Committee has filed Freedom of Information Act requests between 9 possible Republican contenders for the GOP 2012 presidential nomination.  The request date is this Friday BEFORE the 2010 election!  ABC News is reporting that,

The nine Republicans that Democrats are seeking information on are former Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska; former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass.; Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss.; Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.; former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark.; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.; Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.; Gov. Mitch Daniels, R-Ind.; Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La.

 In the realm of politics it's not uncommon to try and pry into the recesses of public papers in order to find what dirt there is to find.  What is unusual is how early this is occuring.  Such requests generally come in the fall of the year prior to the election (i.e. 2011 in this instance).  What is unusual is that the DNC is starting a year early. 

The request isn't for details of military service or lack thereof, but appears to be designed to find information on letters and memos sent to and from the potential candidates in official positions they've held.  DNC officials declined to comment, but did not dispute that the information has been requested. An Army spokesman confirmed that the DNC's formal request for information has been received.  "We did receive a FOIA request, and now we are responding to that FOIA request," said the spokesman, Col. Tom Collins.

So they're digging for dirt early.  That's the Chicago Way...but in this case, the usual dirty tricks department may come back to haunt them.  Voters are developing longer and longer memories.