So after every debate, campaigns send out press releases collecting all the praise that they get from various commentators. Within ten minutes of the conclusion, reporters on the campaign beat can expect, “EXPERTS AGREE: CANDIDATE JONES WON DECISIVELY”, blah blah blah. On a good day, campaigns are quoting network analysts, talking heads, party bigfoots. On a bad day, they’re citing praise from folks the average Joe has never heard of. (Sometimes campaigns cite my reaction, so I’ll let you decide which category I fit in.)

After a while, I began to wonder if commentators were tempted to tart up their commentary in order to get noticed. (I’ll admit, when I wrote that in the 2004 vice presidential debate, Cheney had dealt “the single most devastating drubbing since Lloyd Bentsen smacked Dan Quayle all around the stage in 1988,” I was hoping the comment would make waves.)

Rudy’s campaign just issued a collection of praising quotes from commentators on his “Twelve Commitments,” citing nice words from Sean Hannity, Marc Ambinder, Rob Bluey, Powerline, Pat Buchanan, Bill Bennett, etc. Now they’ve opened the door for advertising praise from any source at any time, and thus those in the commentariat have an incentive to praise Rudy, as their comments may get distributed all around the blogosphere and political world.