From the AP:

A combative Barack Obama said Tuesday that Republican John McCain “doesn’t know what he’s up against” in this election.

Obama, campaigning in a state where he hopes to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to win in more than three decades, implored his supporters to fight for the presidency.

“Our job in this election is not just ‘win,’ although I’m a big believer in winning,” Obama said during the rally. “I don’t intend to lose this election. John McCain doesn’t know what he’s up against.”

In this, at least, he is probably correct; Barack Obama’s past is filled with the corpses of the political careers of those that did not take him and his Chicagoland tactics seriously.

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Alice Palmer, Obama’s own mentor, found herself disqualified from even running when he challenged her ballot petition signatures to get her taken out of running. Obama ended up being elected unopposed.

Blair Hull, who ran against Obama in the Democrat primary in the 2004 Illinois Senate race, found himself tarred by last-minute allegations (put forward by the Obama campaign from Hull’s sealed divorce records and run in the Chicago Tribune) that he beat his wife. Obama ended up winning by a landslide.

Jack Ryan, who initially ran against Obama in the 2004 Illinois general election senate race, found himself tarred by allegations (put forward by the Obama campaign from Ryan’s sealed divorce records and run in the Chicago Tribune) that Ryan had made unusual and uncomfortable sexual requests of his wife, Star Trek actress Jeri Ryan. Obama, again, ended up winning by a landslide (running against Alan Keyes is hard work).

I guess John McCain should lawyer-up, keep an eye on the Chicago Tribune, and hope that there’s nothing untoward in his divorce records (because Obama will somehow get them put out there, sealed or not).

The Obamassiah might well be right. John McCain might not “know what he’s up against.”

But the pattern of the Chicago machine is clear; McCain should be ready.

After all, Obama is now (despite falling behind in recent polling) confidently predicting nevertheless that he will be victorious in November:

A confident Barack Obama raised an extraordinary $7.8 million Sunday at three California fundraisers, most of it in large checks to a Democratic Party committee.

“I will win. Don’t worry about that,” he said to the crowd of about 1,300 at his third event of the evening, according to the pool report.

He was warmly received by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called him “a leader that God has blessed us with at this time.”

Pelosi has an interesting conception of blessings.

To have a candidate running for president that is this sleazy, this arrogant, and this radical is just a heck of a “blessing.”