Tick....tick....tick....

I think Kerry and the Brain Trust has until 1pm-ish to decide one way or another.

That's not an ultimatum, or what I think he should do, but more my gut hunch about how long it will take this news cycle to go nuh-kler.

What's interesting will be Edwards--with one eye to his political future and one eye to what happened to Joe Lieberman getting joined at the hip for Crazy Al's Florida Adventrues---and whether he jumps ship. Let's call it Edwards' "What do you mean WE, Kemosabe?" moment. Because remember: Edwards in about 16 months is going to start making the case that if he'd been the nominee, the "Swift Vets" would've remained a rec-league softball team and "Stolen Honor" would've been a direct to video FBI bomb starring former movie star Alec Baldwin.

Gosh, what exactly did Soros and Bing and Peter Larson get for their tens of millions of dollars? These are the phone calls the Brain Trust are taking right now. To what degree does a challenge or concession impact future party fundraising? This is the cost calculus being made right now.

One almost feels bad for Harold Ickes. Almost.....

UPDATE: Advantage LLamabutchers! And the Commissar has more.