Dana Milbank may already be regretting the column he wrote for tomorrow's Washington Post, in which he claims that one word -- Halliburton -- will trump any argument that Bush/Cheney campaigners may put forward:

"Halliburton," says Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton, "will always be the fire Dick Cheney can't put out." That is certainly the Democrats' hope, as they try to portray the oil services company once run by Vice President Cheney as a metaphor for all things anti-Bush.

When Cheney spoke about health care yesterday in Toledo, Kerry forces held a counter-rally featuring signs saying "Health Care, Not Halliburton." Explaining that apparent non sequitur, the campaign said in a news release that health care costs would be lower if Cheney spent "as much energy on lowering health care costs as getting Halliburton their no-bid contracts."

Likewise, when the Bush campaign last week demanded video footage of an event where Whoopi Goldberg delivered a crude anti-Bush message, the Kerry campaign had a ready response: The Bush campaign should release correspondence about Halliburton's contracts.

Milbank later (paragraph 10) finally reports that no evidence of any wrongdoing has ever been produced, nor have the Democrats ever substantiated their allegations of war profiteering against the VP. Cheney had already given up his financial interests in Halliburton, at a considerable loss, when he took office. His pensions were locked in at the rates in play at the time of divestiture, as required.

Now, however, Milbank may have published a day too soon. The word with which the Republicans can answer back: Berger. And Wilson, too, for that matter.

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