It's interesting to contrast the national parties' latest round of e-mails in the special election for Kirsten Gillibrand's old House seat, which is being held this Tuesday.

The DNC has sent out an e-mail on behalf of Democratic candidate Scott Murphy, with President Obama formally announcing his endorsement and asking supporters in and around the district to help the campaign.

Meanwhile, the NRCC sent out a fundraising e-mail yesterday that continued to push the debunked attack line that Murphy supports the AIG bonuses: "Have you heard about Scott Murphy and his support for the taxpayer funded AIG bonuses? If not, you should know America cannot afford Scott Murphy in Congress and why you cannot trust him."

The e-mails themselves point to a big difference between the parties right now: One of them has a clear national leader who is quite popular at the moment. The other party has no single leader who can mobilize support, or even a major popular figure, so their job is really to tear down the other guy.