One of my readers, Brian, writes in:

No matter who turns out to have been who started the Mormon push-polling episode, whether Romney’s campaign, another campaign, or some other group, you would think that Rathergate and the anti-Fred web site episode from a few months ago would have shown that there are people out there who, once their interest is piqued, are going to go after stuff like this and not quit until they find out what they want to know. I truly believe that the Internet has changed both positive and, especially, negative campaigning forever. And if I know that, you would think that most of these “consultants” would have figured that out by now.

He’s largely right. In the past, solving this mystery would require this story to catch the eye of the thirty or so influential reporters covering the presidential race (picture the crew on The Boys on the Bus, those fresh faces covering the race in 1972, like David Broder and Bob Novak and Jules Witcover and Brit Hume… hey, wait, it’s all the same folks as today!).

Still, a thousand bloggers calling folks, gathering information, offering theories, fitting the pieces together, etc. still lacks one thing – subpeona power and the capacity to get someone to break corporate confidentiality agreements.