If this story is accurate – and Tom Edsall is a solid, veteran reporter – this is big:

At the same time, some top independent expenditure groups supporting Clinton have been exploring the creation of an anti-Obama “527 committee” that would take unlimited contributions from a few of Clinton’s super-rich backers and from a handful of unions to finance television ads and direct mail designed to tarnish the Illinois Senator’s image… Three groups conducting independent expenditure campaigns in behalf of Clinton – Emily’s List, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) – have explored the possibility of trying to put together a multi-million dollar effort privately dubbed the Anybody-But-Obama 527 Committee, but they have run into problems finding any Democratic operative willing to become the director of a campaign against the man who now is the odds-on favorite to become the party’s nominee. “You might make some good money in the short term, but your chances of getting any Democratic contracts in the future, especially if Obama wins, would be zilch,” said one operative. “I wouldn’t go there.” The effectiveness of a 527 that goes negative was demonstrated by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which attacked John Kerry’s war record in the 2004 campaign. Sources familiar with the discussions about the creation of an anti-Obama 527 said that some of the Clinton campaign’s major fundraisers have separately been exploring another similar proposal, but have not gotten very far yet. “These things (527s) are not that easy to get rolling. There is a long way between talking and doing,” said one source familiar with setting up 527 operations. Federal tax law requires regular disclosure of both the donors to 527 organizations and the expenditures they make, so it is not possible for such committees to keep secret the identity of supporters and staff.

Wow. You think Hillary’s likeability numbers are low now? How about when her allies declare all-out war to tarnish the guy being called the second coming of Martin Luther King?

Edsall also reports Hillary may pull out of Nevada and South Carolina to focus on the February 5 states.