Paid to Stay At Home?

Ed Rollins must wish he had kept his big mouth shut. For years the Republican campaign consultant has been known as a compulsive truth teller with a penchant for speaking his mind even when it reflected badly on the candidate he was managing. Last week Rollins set a new standard for provocative candor by boasting that his latest electoral triumph -- Christine Todd Whitman's razor-thin victory over New Jersey Governor Jim Florio -- was largely the result of a political dirty trick.

In a breakfast meeting with Washington journalists, Rollins claimed that "street smart" New Jersey Republicans had doled out $500,000...