Republican dirty tricks in South Dakota:

[brentspeak]

Basically, last month, incumbent congresswomen Stephanie Herseth (D-SD) was the victim of a malicious Wikipedia edit and subsequent rumor campaign initiated by her Republican challenger's campaign manager.

Phony information on a Web site said Herseth was pregnant and engaged to her "chief of staff," a man identified by a name that belongs to no one on the congresswoman's staff. In an e-mail message sent to political Web logs, Whalen campaign manager Lee Breard highlighted the farce and also mentioned another rumor that implied Herseth was a "home-wrecker" because of her relationship with a former congressman from Texas.

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/08/09/news/local/news03.txt

Here is the text of an email Breard sent to RW bloggers -- after he made the edits to Herseth's Wikipedia article:

Bloggers,

Please read the profile below in Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Herseth

It says that she is engaged to her Chief of Staff, Pregnant, and Pro-Life.

This is a big change from being a Home Wrecker with a Texas Congressman two years ago!

I look forward to your thoughts and verification of the claims.

Lee Breard
Campaign Manager
Bruce Whalen for U.S. Congress

Later, after weeks of claiming ignorance about how all this came about, Breard admitted to the whole thing:

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/08/23/news/local/news04.txt

The campaign manager for Republican U.S. House candidate Bruce Whalen said Tuesday that he wanted to apologize to Democratic Rep. Stephanie Herseth for his role in spreading an unfounded rumor about her personal life.

[OzarkDem]

1. Rove cheap tricks

Here in Ohio, they've tried to circulate quite a few rumors, like Dem gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland is "gay" because he and his wife didn't have any children, etc. I expect we will see more to come.

[The Deacon]

2. Well,

I hope someone puts to rest that rumor that Rove has sex with barnyard animals.

[Wilber_Stool]

3. I wonder if it would be possable for

Wiki to lock its political bios untill the elections?

[Supersedeas]

4. so the filth of Rove begins in earnest--watch as Wolf Blitzer & gang

amplify and disseminate such filth for their masters.

[brentspeak]

5. s/k

:kick: