And there it was: at a GOP Senate debate devoted to the notion that the candidate who sounds craziest wins, Tom Campbell injected a little common sense.

He was the only one of the three contenders who thought that people on the government’s no-fly list – i.e., people the government thinks might be terrorist risks – shouldn’t be permitted to buy guns.

Yes, read it again. Tom Campbell has the totally, ridiculously radical view that possible terrorists shouldn’t be allowed to purchase weapons!

The mask has been lifted. He’s a closet communist.

Unfortunately, he seemed to behave as if he had made a mistake after his two rivals attacked him for that position. (One even raised the issue of his NRA rating!) The Sacramento Bee called this a gaffe. Campbell himself wondered if his position was a mistake in a Republican primary.

Tom, if you can’t find your inner demagogue on this one, you simply don’t have it in you to win this thing.

This was a heaven-sent opportunity to fight hard back and say: "You know what, you two are absolutely out of your minds! I support the Second Amendment, but not for people who want to destroy this country and blow up innocent women and children. Carly and Chuck would permit the Christmas Day bomber and the fellow who tried to blow up Times Square to buy guns. Having either one of them in the Senate would be a threat to national security. I would put the security of this country and this nation first always. Excuse me, but I think this election is over now because I know that Californians don’t want to elect a Senator who wants to arm terrorists!"

Tom, you need to cut ads on this. You need to talk about this every single day between now and the rest of the election.

Your message should be simple: "If you want to arm terrorists, then vote for one of my opponents. They believe in giving guns to people who want to kill you. I’m Tom Campbell and I’ll vote in the U.S. Senate to capture and kill terrorists, not arm them."