Needless to say, if the culprit had been a Republican and the victim had been a prominent Democrat politician, this would be CNN headline news (hat tip: reader Doug R.):

One day after Carroll A. Campbell Jr. died, a Democratic party operative tried to post on the Internet remarks accusing the former governor of being part of a racist mob 35 years ago, prompting a political firestorm.

Phil Bailey, political director for the Senate Democratic Caucus, apologized for the comments he submitted to a political Web site and offered his resignation to Sen. John Land, the Democratic leader.

Land rejected the resignation, calling the 25-year-old’s actions “a youthful indiscretion.”

Yeah, that seems to be the trendy excuse for Democratic dirty tricks these days.

More:

Campbell’s friends, state Republican Party leaders and even high-ranking Democrats criticized Land for not firing Bailey. They said the remarks smear the two-term governor who suffered a fatal heart attack Dec. 7 at the age of 65.

The uproar stems from a submission Bailey made Dec. 8 to Laurinline, a Web log, or blog, popular among South Carolina political observers.

“Gov. Campbell also will be remember (sic) for teaching South Carolina how many white boys it took to tip over a school bus full of black children in Timmonsville in the late ’60s,” Bailey wrote. “I hope Saint Peter asked him about that incident.”

South Carolina historians said the comments were historically inaccurate. While Campbell led a rally from Greenville to Columbia against forced busing in January 1970, he was in no way connected to an incident in March 1970 when a mob overturned a school bus in Lamar.

That’s part of the reason Laurin Manning, a University of South Carolina law student who moderates the site, refused to post Bailey’s comments. “I have to accept responsibility for everything on the site whether or not I write it,” she said. “I delete comments that are inappropriate.”

Good for her. (Too bad more bloggers don’t feel the same sense of responsibility.)

Continuing:

The text of the submission was obtained by The Post and Courier and later verified by Manning.

Bailey wrote as “anonymous,” but the origin was traced to a computer at the South Carolina Democratic Party.

When asked about the submission, Democratic officials identified Bailey as the source.

Bailey will reportedly be put “on probation” for his Internet smear. I’m sure there’s already a job waiting for him at the oppo research division of the DNC.