There are still a few weeks left to talk about that.
Negative campaigns work when the negative information makes undecideds and committed voters say, "ugh, I can't vote for Bush now that I know this!"
The problem is that explosed dirty politics, if the main stream media admits that the information was an attempt to manipulate public opinion, will backfire and cause more undecideds to vote for Bush and many Kerry supporters to vote for Nader. If Rather were to admit he was fooled by the DNC and its operatives, he Dan Rather would contribute to a Republican landslide in November. Rather will hold on to the very end to avoid admitting the now obvious truth and try with all his heart to prevent a backlash that sweeps Republicans into office.
What I find really interesting is that the retoric is now being ratcheted up. At first CBS News was doing an internal investigation Now CBS News is saying that they are sure of the information and stake the reputation of the entire "CBS network" on the authenticity of the story.
Will the reputation of GE next be put at stake, just to prevent the obvious admission? I am not sure, but some heads are likely to roll at CBS News and CBS Corporate over this story, unless the DNC figures out a way to make the story become at least believable pretty soon.