Putting aside tabloid fluff and other deranged personal attacks (H/T) that will soon find themselves exiled to the wilderness, there still remains the only potential derail to Palin, as it deals with a matter of public behavior: the legislative star chamber investigation into the Trooper firings, a matter which was known before Palin was chosen.

Looks like things may be coming to a boil on this front, as today the McCain campaign has decided to launch a frontal attack to defuse this issue before the media whores can try to manufacture a “cover-up” meme – stating publicly that they aren’t going to cooperate and making their case publicly as to other compelling reasons to have fired Monegan. At the same time, Republican state legislators have gone to court to halt the investigation as hopelessly partisan.

This is a follow-up on last week’s letter from Palin’s attorney that they would go to court to quash the subpoenas if the Dems didn’t back down. Instead the Dems escalated, hoping to provide enough smoke for the media to try to create a fire.

Hence the need to tackle the issue before the media can run with the ball.

It looks like we could be approaching a critical juncture on this issue, whether the campaign can defuse this controversy or whether the media will be able to turn this into a media circus, offering breathless daily coverage that could slow or reverse Palin’s momentum by pimping an appearance of criminality and cover-up.

This could be a major test of the McCain/Palin campaign’s abilities to preempt an adverse event and to thereby maintain a favorable trendline among voters.

(cross-posted at And Rightly So!)