The good news is being odious is really dragging down John McCain and Sarah Palin. The bad news is they might stop.

After more than a week of pitbull Palin’s assertion that Barack Obama pals around with “terr’ists,” some polls put Obama/Biden up as much as 10 points overall, with one ABC/Washington Post survey showing little doubt about who being negative is hurting.

Registered voters by a 24-point margin, 59-35 percent, now say McCain is more focused on attacking his opponent rather than addressing the issues. That’s grown from a roughly even 48-45 percent split on this question in late August.

There’s far less criticism of the tone of Obama’s campaign: Registered voters by 68-26 percent say he’s mainly addressing the issues…

In an almost unheard of circumstance these days, when people perceive everything through a filter of political affiliation, McCain’s and Palin’s behavior registers the same, regardless of party registration.

Republicans, despite their general antipathy toward Obama, don’t broadly see him as running a negative campaign; they divide essentially evenly on the question, 44-46 percent. Democrats, by contrast, overwhelmingly say McCain’s going negative, 80-16 percent.

The deciding factor, as ever in presidential politics, is independents. They see McCain as mainly attacking his opponent, by 61-33 percent, but Obama as mainly addressing the issues, by 68-26 percent.

After John McCain had to personally face the lynch mob he and Palin have fired up, his campaign is said to have had a change of heart.

The Arizona senator and Palin changed their tactics again this weekend, toning down their rhetoric and insisting to their supporters that they will battle Obama but with “respect.”

I’ll believe it when I see it. I had to endure the following piece of excrescence at least three times each during Extreme Makeover Home Edition and Brothers and Sisters last night. Doesn’t sound too respectful to me, nor does it give me much of an idea about what McCain’s plan is for the economy.