So far Kerry has kept out of the fray. With so much vitriol being flung around, the fact he was on holiday when the story broke looks fortuitous. Many experts believe the strength of the White House attack on Clarke could itself damage the Republicans.
"The reason they are losing this fight is they are showing no grace, no sincere effort to learn. All they have left is an attack and we already know they are plenty tough," said Haas.
The danger of negative campaigning is particularly strong in this election. New laws force candidates to personally endorse their advertisements, making overly aggressive advertising harmful to their image.
Despite this both sides have gone negative very early, largely due to the knife-edge nature of the election.
Both parties believe in the "50-50" US, where few opinions have shifted from the narrow result of the 2000 election. In this scenario Bush is still probably the favorite, but by a narrow margin.
"It is his to lose, but the Republicans are worried," said Shaun Bowler, politics professor at the University of California.
That is why the fallout from the Clarke book has been taken so seriously.
And worse is to come. In a few months former diplomat Joseph Wilson will publish his book, an account of the build-up to the war in Iraq, called <<The Politics of Truth>>. Wilson last summer accused the White House of ignoring evidence in its efforts to show Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
The White House allegedly responded by leaking the identity of Wilson's wife, an undercover CIA operative.
That scandal led to a criminal investigation of White House staff, which is ongoing. Clarke's book is just the start of a long summer of revelations.
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