Triple Play

Investigators from the California Attorney-General's office are looking at the Republican challenger to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) as the source of a letter to Hispanic immigrants threatening them with prosecution and possible deportation if they tried to vote. Apparently, the campaign of Republican Tan D. Nguyen wasn't very subtle: investigators found a mailing company in Huntington Beach whose owner admitted printing and sending the flyers. The owner, who said he does not understand Spanish, told the Orange County Register that he didn't know the flyer broke any laws. He is the one who seems to have pointed the finger at Nguyen's campaign.

You will not be surprised to learn that Republicans are lining up to express shock and outrage at the letter.

Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating the campaign of Rep. Bob Beauprez (R-CO), who is running for Governor of Colorado (and, according to the polls, trailing badly). It seems that Beauprez has been running an attack ad against his Democratic opponent, Bill Ritter, a former prosecutor, that contained information from a confidential federal data base.

And another Republican loser, Kerry Healey, Lt. Gov. of Massachusetts, has been pretty well tagged with being behind the anonymous letter that revealed--contrary to Massachusetts law--that the sister of Democrat Deval Patrick had been raped by her husband. The offense took place over a dozen years ago, when the couple lived in California. They have since reconciled and live in the Bay State. Joan Venocchi, of The Boston Globe, explains why it's clear that Healey's people were behind the smear. You should read the whole column, but if you have any doubt about what was going on, take a gander at the disclaimer that Healey's campaign released when Patrick accused them of responsibility: "We had absolutely nothing to do with the Herald's description of this information." Shades of Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Mitchell.