The Clinton, Obama and Edwards camps are all up to their eyeballs in a special interest fray that is a sure cure for insomnia.

Team Barack set off the bore war among the campaigns over who has the worst record of being tied to third-party special interest groups that spend millions attacking candidates on behalf of candidates.

The flap began Saturday when Obama’s campaign manager sent out a memo hinting, but not outright charging, that John Edwards may have had inappropriate contact with one of those groups, the Alliance for a New America, which a former top Edwards aide, Nick Baldick, is running.

If you’re still with us, the violation would be that it is illegal for campaigns to talk to and coordinate with those third-party groups, known as 527s. Team Edwards laughs off the charge, saying it has done nothing wrong.

[**By James Gordon Meek**](http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dc/james-meek/)

New questions are being raised about divided loyalties inside the government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in the wake of Benazir Bhutto's assassination. Could this shocking political murder have been, at least in part, an inside job? In Sunday's Daily News, we reported exclusively on increasing suspicions among top U.S. counterterrorism officials that [**Al Qaeda leaders have been protected by rogue operatives from Pakistan's army or Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency**](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2007/12/30/2007-12-30_some_pros...), who could just as easily have aided them in slaying the former prime minister.

Particular attention is on Osama Bin Laden's No. 2, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, whose ease at communicationg to the West this year has proven remarkable. Zawahiri has issued almost monthly video or audio statements throughout 2007, including some referring to specific events as recently as seven days earlier.

It's worth noting that the ISI's extended retiree network is open for business and that its former chief under Bhutto, Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul, is still a prominent figure in Pakistan. Gul openly stated in a 2003 interview that [**"God will destroy America,"**](http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_30-8-2003_pg7_48) and has professed admiration for enemies of the U.S. Those might be just meaningless comments were it not from the man who organized that Taliban a decade ago as an instrument of Pakistan's foreign policy.

Read more about Bhutto's assassination and upheaval in the Musharraf government and Taliban command after the jump.

Barack Obama didn't unleash any expletives on the campaign trail today in Knoxville, Iowa. But he confessed to the crowd here that he has plenty of naughty words in his repertoire.

When a voter asked Obama to explain how he's different from Republican Mitt Romney, the senator laughed.

"That’s a long list," he replied. "Mitt Romney is a very handsome guy. He is taller than me."

He continued, "I was listening to an interview this morning where he said, somebody asked him has he ever cursed, and he said, ‘Well, of course, but not the real harsh ones.’ I have to tell you I’ve used some really harsh curse words."

And if that wasn't clear enough, the senator, sporting a mischevious grin, clarified, "the really good ones, the juicy ones."

Unfortunately, an aide declined to provide the Daily News with a list of those "juicy" words. The aide urged this reporter to use his imagination.

**- Michael Saul**

Barack Obama encountered profanity on the campaign trail tonight.....on a baby's bib.

During an evening stop at George's Pizza and Steakhouse in Fairfield, Iowa, Obama walked through the restaurant, greeting patrons, making small talk, cooing over the infants.

It was all par for the course on the trail until Obama got to the back table, where he found a boy wearing a bib that read "Nice T-ts. Can I try one?"

"Oh my goodness," Obama exclaimed, upon spotting the bib. "My goodness!"

"Did we get a picture of this?" the Illinois senator asked.

"We're going to have to censor this," he joked, motioning to cover the bib with his hand.

Someone at the table helpfully shouted out, "You can just blur it out."

Oh my.

**- Michael Saul**