The rumor mill continued to churn in Washington Monday with conservative pundit and columnist, Robert Novak, standing by his claim that members of the Clinton campaign are spreading the word in Democratic circles that the former First Lady has disturbing information on Barack Obama -- but has so far decided not to make it public.

Novak’s column appeared Saturday on HumanEvents.com, a hotspot for conservative news and discussion. The allegations come on the heels of the Democratic debate in Las Vegas where Clinton and Obama exchanged tough rhetoric over each other’s record and qualifications.

Novak told Fox News that while no proof exists that Clinton does possess such information, he remains firm on the information he received, stating, “Now whether there is any such scandalous information, I don’t' know, but what I know is, I'm confident in my sources -- who I trust. We're told this by Clinton people that there was such information out."

The dead heat of the Democratic race leading up to Iowa has inevitably forced candidates to up their attacks, but the Clinton campaign has vehemently denied Novak’s assertions. Campaign spokesmen speculate that the rumor is a Republican scheme to smear Mrs. Clinton as practicing “Nixon-style politics.”

Novak has denied any Republican involvement.

The Obama campaign wasted no time in confronting the allegations and issued a strong response demanding Clinton either make the information public or concede that it does not exist.

Speaking in Marion, Iowa on Sunday, Obama stressed the desire to be better safe than sorry, stating, “In the era of the blogosphere, we have seen what happened with John McCain in 2000, what happened with John Kerry in 2004. If you don’t get on this stuff quickly, then it starts drifting around, and that is not something I am going to accept.”

The angry and decisive response has been criticized by Capitol Hill veterans as evidence of the junior senator's inexperience, but given the potency of these personal affronts in recent years, it’s clear his campaign is taking no chances.