UPDATE Some takeback on what follows in this post. The video may have been well-crafted, but it turns out there’s a problem acknowledged by Lucas Baumbach, who put it together: “No, it wasn’t accurate . . . I admit that there was a lot of editing that went on there.” So factor that in . . . but also the fact that the power of the vid is such that we’re likely to see more of this ahead.

Is it too soon to call the Idaho political video of the year? Maybe not.

This one actually made Leno and went solidly viral around the country. And deservedly so: It was brilliantly put together. It’ll take something really amazing to top this.

It had an agenda, of course. Lucas Baumbach, who is the new Republican nominee for the state Senate (District 17) and a Tea Party-oriented activist, had made clear elsewhere that he much preferred, in the 1st District U.S. House Republican race, Raul Labrador over Vaughn Ward. But it was his stunning back-and-forth construction of this one that just wiped out Ward – the more so because its point was just as powerful whether you like Barack Obama or not.

Not everyone approved, of course. an email to the Idaho Conservative Blogger remarked, “Lucas Baumbach should be ashamed of himself for what amounted to political dirty tricks against Ward with his video.” Dirty tricks? There’s been no indication that Baumbach made up or somehow created the video. The words were what they were; the compare-and-contrast was totally fair.

Be it noted that this isn’t the only significant video wreaking damage on Ward in recent weeks. Another, by Colin Mansfield, consisting of raw footage (of a debate in which the candidates talked about Puerto Rico statehood), captured Ward gaffes in a way the more davastating because it was so plainly shown without elaboration.

TV commercials? Fugeddaboudit. Vids like these are far more powerful.