Barack Obama and John McCain revving their engines to reach the high ground on ethics can only mean one thing: more undercarriage activity.

"Obama and his campaign staunchly defended Jim Johnson against the charge that his ties to troubled mortgage lender Countrywide disqualified him from sitting on Obama's vice presidential search committee," reports Ben Smith of Politico [1], "but Johnson just pulled the plug: He resigned as chairman of the steering committee just now."

Under the bus rating: 65 mph in a 55 mph speed zone.