More Republican Sneak Attacks

Well now, it seems that the ugly story about a right-wing blogger who snuck into the nursing home where Mississippi GOP Sen. Thad Cochran's wife was bedridden in order to try to create a scandal to favor Cochran's primary opponent, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, really did end up creating a real scandal.  Apparently, Cochran's people knew about the incident for two weeks before telling police.

Cochran’s campaign spokesman, Jordan Russell, told The Hill Monday that the campaign was made aware of a video allegedly taken by local political blogger Clayton Kelly of Cochran’s infirm wife on the day it was posted, April 26. He said the campaign conducted its own investigation of the video before alerting Cochran to it and deciding to bring it to an attorney.

Kelly, an apparent supporter of Cochran's GOP primary challenger state Sen. Chris McDaniel, was arrested Friday over the alleged taping, and the incident has roiled the bitter race two weeks from the election, as a new survey from a group backing McDaniel shows the race to be within the margin of error.

“We were made aware of [the video] that morning because people were emailing us saying, ‘Did you see this?’ ” Russell told The Hill. “We conducted our own review for a few days and then went to Sen. Cochran about it, and that was when the decision was made to turn it over to the attorneys.”

Russell said he wasn’t sure how long the campaign conducted its investigation, but the inquiry lasted anywhere from three days to a week before the campaign consulted Cochran’s attorney.

This smells as bad as the original story, if not worse, especially since Mississippi police are considering conspiracy charges against Clayton Kelly, the blogger in order to round up anyone who may have been part of this.

Kelly, who was arrested on Friday for breaking into the nursing home to photograph Rose Cochran, is being held in jail on a bond of $100,000 on charges related to the break-in, according to the Clarion-Ledger of Mississippi.

Officials for the Madison, Mississippi police department said they wanted to talk to other individuals who "who might have been part of a conspiracy" concerning the break-in, according to the Clarion-Ledger. Police, however, are refusing to comment any further on details of the investigation though.

Kelly, who supports Cochran primary challenger state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-MS), was arrested late Friday for the break-in. He has been charged with exploitation of a vulnerable adult after breaking into the St. Catherine's nursing home where Rose Cochran is located.

The McDaniel campaign, despite somewhat contradictory responses, has denied any direct connection to Kelly.

This entire thing smells like week-old fish.  Maybe Democrat Travis Childers has a shot in hell at this seat after all.