Sam Stein at HuffPo asks, "What's in the water in anti-Obama Tennessee?" He observes that both Democrats and Republicans have been more vicious in spreading e-mail smears and attacking Obama than the rest of the nation:

The Republican Party of Tennessee has, on several occasions, trotted out lines of criticism against Obama that put them further down that road than even Karl Rove - the vaunted campaign attack alchemist - has been willing to go. The state's GOP released a press release in late February, accusing the Democratic nominee of being anti-Israel, linking him to Louis Farrakhan, and featuring a photo of the Senator in African garb for good measure.

Nearly two months later, the party began circulating a video of Michelle Obama saying that she was proud of her country for the first time in her adult life, followed by a montage of Tennesseans discussing the essence of their patriotism (including, conspicuously, a guy at a pool table with a rack of guns behind him).

I'm headed down to Tennessee later this week to visit family. I'm looking forward to the food and fireworks, but maybe I should take a few bottles of water with me.