State political party organizations, both Republican and Democratic, spend a lot of time taking potshots at the other side - efforts that all too often are a bit potted themselves.

A case in point was the complaint Democrats recent filed with Political Practices Commissioner Dennis Unsworth about GiveItBack.com, a Web site bent on attacking Gov. Brian Schweitzer's budget proposals. Web site founder Steve Baines, the president of RightNow Technologies in Bozeman, advocated refunding at least half of the Montana's $1 billion surplus and criticized Schweitzer for his travels during the legislative session.

The Democrats alleged that the site, officially a nonprofit group that can advocate for political causes but not in favor of specific candidates, looked like a "phony front group" promoting a possible gubernatorial campaign by Daines in 2008. Democratic Party Executive Director Jim Farrell noted that Daines attended and helped sponsor last week's Montana Republican Party convention, suggesting that he was acting like a candidate for statewide office.

Unsworth rightly rejected the allegation. He said that without actual evidence that Daines is running for office, there's no grounds for proceeding with the complaint.

After all, Daines never has run for public office and has said he has no plans to run for governor. Despite his past contributions to conservative candidates and causes, mere speculation about his future plans doesn't rise to the level of concrete allegations in need of investigation.

Of course, as Unsworth noted, the larger issue here has to do with the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech. Daines, whether you like his message or not, has the right to speak out.

Both parties seem to enjoy raising issues like this. But Democrats going after Daines is no more useful to the state's political discourse than Republicans thinking up bad names to call the governor. It all gets old in a hurry.