People will be gossiping about the Bill Clinton - Charlie Rose interview for days, but make no mistake about it: Whatever its impact on the primary campaign, if Barack Obama emerges as the Democratic nominee, Clinton has dealt him a pretty tough blow. How do you spell Republican attack ad?

Yes, Clinton is a partisan and married to Obama's chief opponent.

But he's also the most popular figure in the party and a former president.

If he doesn't think Obama is ready to be president, it surely will count for something with a good many voters, probably a lot -- if not now, then down the road.

Which is why this interview is likely to hurt Obama now, as well -- which was obviously the former president's intention. To the extent this current primary campaign is about electability in the fall, Bill has just made Obama less electable.

There's been a lot of talk in the last few days about the missteps of the Clinton campaign -- and there have been many. But Obama's "inexperience" and electability are now out there - as is his former drug use, as even respected commentators such as Craig Crawford are calling on Obama to make sure he's made a complete accounting of his behavior as a youth.

Maybe in the present environment, it hurts the attacker more than the attackee to go negative and everyone is scandal-proof. We're about to find out.

To read Steven Stark's complete "Presidential Tote Board" blog, go to www.thephoenix.com/toteboard/