In early February, there was a sharp uptick in the number of FOIA requests from the DNC with McCain as a specific target. February was about the same time McCain emerged as the front-runner and likely nominee.

A review of FOIA requests and independent confirmations obtained by The Hill turned up requests from the DNC at at least four agencies – the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of the Interior (DOI), the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Commerce Department.

According to one filing, Alicia McClintock, a DNC operative, wrote DOI asking for “any and all records of communication (including but not limited to letters, written requests, reports, telephone records, electronic communication) between your agency and John McCain or his offices/staff from 1999 to present during which period he has been a United States Senator.”

A spokeswoman for the DNC said the FOIA requests and research efforts are “standard.”

The review did not turn up any similar requests from the Republican National Committee (RNC), which employs an expansive research department.

An RNC official declined to discuss “strategy or specific tactics” but did say the committee is “taking every step to define the Democratic opposition, whether it’s Sen. Obama or Sen. Clinton.”

The RNC has not been shy about targeting either candidate thus far.

But the DNC has become much more vocal and visible in its criticisms of McCain in recent weeks.

While the party’s eventual nominee remains locked in an intensifying battle with a fellow Democrat, the DNC has opted to target McCain with a laser-like focus.

Sen. Obama claims defections the day after Philly debate

Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) campaign, hours after what it is calling the “gotcha” debate, put three new supporters on the phone with reporters Thursday who, until recently, were backing rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.).

The three Pennsylvania women – Dar Thomas, Susan Petrow and state Sen. Leanna Washington – all cited what they view as increasingly negative tactics from the Clinton campaign as their reason for switching.

“I really wanted to vote for a woman this time,” Thomas said on a conference call with reporters. “I just found myself totally losing trust and faith in her.”

Washington also cited the “relentless negativity,” adding “really, [Obama] has already won.”

David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager, sought to tie Wednesday night’s debate moderators and their questions to Clinton’s “scorched earth” school of politics.

On the conference call, Plouffe repeatedly noted the absence of issues in the first 45 minutes of the debate and the focus on recent campaign trail dust-ups and past personal associations.

Plouffe also circulated a fundraising e-mail to supporters focusing on that message.

“It took more than 45 minutes before Barack was asked about the economy, health care of foreign policy,” Plouffe wrote. “Regrettably, Sen. Clinton seemed all too comfortable with that type of debate.

She’s running a 100 percent negative campaign in Pennsylvania, taking every opportunity to make personal and discredited attacks against Sen. Obama.

The Clinton campaign said on a conference call Thursday morning that Obama had been really tested for the first time and failed miserably.

“I think we saw a preview of what would happen if he were the nominee,” Howard Wolfson, a senior Clinton adviser, said in Philadelphia.

The consensus has emerged that Obama was on the hot seat for most of the night, kept on his heels by a barrage of questions dealing with the controversies that have irritated him since the last debate more than six weeks ago.

But the liberal blogs were fired up Wednesday, accusing ABCNews moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, a former aide to President Bill Clinton, of unfairly targeting Obama.

MoveOn, the liberal political action group backing Obama, circulated an e-mail protest petition among its membership, promising to run an ad criticizing the moderators if 100,000 people sign the petition.

“Enough is enough,” the e-mail reads. “The public needs the media to stop hurting the national dialogue in this important election year.”

Former Gov. Huckabee warns against veep pick of Lieberman