“Notice they’re always in twos,” said a conservative operative whom I called to ask about the video confrontation in which Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.) accosted a college student who attempted to ask him a question.

The operative, who has been responsible for numerous undercover (“black ops”) political projects, compared the two students to a military “hunter-killer team” — the tandem of a sniper and a spotter. The operative did not want to disclose the tactics and strategy of such projects, but said that we can expect to see more video confrontations during what Mike Flynn of BigGovernment.com predicts will be a “long hot summer.”

Dave Weigel of the Washington Post is keenly interested in learning the identity and affiliation of the student video “hunter-killer team” that confronted Etheridge who, as Paul Chesser notes, has already apologized for the assault. (Understatement of the year: “A poor response.”) Both the National Republican Congressional Committee and the campaign of Etheridge’s opponent, Renee Ellmers, have denied involvement.

It is unlikely that the students involved in the Etheridge incident will claim responsibility, my conservative operative source suggests, because doing so would expose them to reprisals by staffers for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

“I think you’re going to see those kids keeping a very low profile for a while,” said the operative. “The D-triple-C is playing for keeps — they’re out for blood.”