This should put to rest this particular debate. I have a .com EMD that ranks #3 for its target keyword. Earlier today I blasted 55,000 blog comments at the site with only the keyword in the anchor text. However I offset this potential over optimization by adding racial slurs and various rants about Ron Paul to the title tag of each page, and changed 7 of the 16 P tags in the index page's content to W's so the content would not seem over-optimized. I am happy to report that 2 hours later the site is still at #3, which is a clear indication that a balanced, or "neutral" SEO strategy will be effective in maintaining your current rankings.
To YOUR success,
Jason S. Cashman, Certified Black Belt SEO
To YOUR success,
Jason S. Cashman, Certified Black Belt SEO