I was about to start typing about the attempted assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto when my wife shouted to me that the attack had been successful, and that the near-certain head of the next Pakistani government was dead.

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday, shot in the neck and chest before a homicide bomber blew himself up at a campaign rally. Twenty others also died.

The assassin struck just minutes after Bhutto addressed a rally of thousands of supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. She was shot as she was entering her car. Her attacker then set off his bomb.

Bhutto was rushed to the hospital and taken into emergency surgery.

Outraged supporters of the martyred politician have placed the blame upon President Pervez Musharraf, though there is currently no evidence to support that presumption.

Her main ally, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been banned from the upcoming election by the Musharraf government, was reportedly at the hospital.

Nawaz Sharif, another former premier and opposition leader, arrived at the hospital and sat silently next to Bhutto's body.

"Certainly, we condemn the attack on this rally. It demonstrates that there are still those in Pakistan who want to subvert reconciliation and efforts to advance democracy," said deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey.

Pakistan's elections are scheduled for January 8. This event obviously raises the issue of whether the election can proceed on schedule, and of the legitimacy of the results if they do. Developments in the next several hours, and the next few days, will be critical to determining whether or not Pakistan emerges from its era of dictatorship, and whether it slides into political chaos.