It's a dog-eat-dog world out there on the campaign trail, as one party's convention winds up tonight and another one begins soon. So as the spinning starts, here is one gun the candidates may want to add to their arsenals:

Pet endorsements.

Yep, a Democrat running for a hotly-contested Ohio Congressional district recently issued a statement broadly claiming the support of "dozens of area dogs, cats and other pets."
Leading the pack were Mary Jo Kilroy's own three dogs, Murphy, Chase and Dodger, who have launched their own "Pets for Kilroy" site. (click here to see it.)

Mary Ann Akers, who writes "The Sleuth" column for the Washington Post, made some snarky comments about Kilroy targeting "crazy pet people... many of them DINKs (double income no kids) who attend bark balls... and treat their pets as children." Geez, Akers, you got a problem with bark balls??

If this idea catches on, then -- opps! -- Obama is in trouble, since he doesn't have any family animals to give him two paws up.

Some quick research on my part did not uncover the pet status of Obama running mate Joe Biden. Does anyone know about Sen. Biden's stand on this important issue? Anyone?

Click here for Akers' complete column.