Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races;

NRSC's New Mailer Invites Children To Read About Pornography, Rape
The NRSC has this new mailer against Al Franken, presented in the format of a goofy children's book about what an obscene human being Franken is. The mailer invites unsuspecting children to open the pages, and then read about pornography and rape:

To his credit, GOP Sen. Norm Coleman has distanced himself from this one. "A piece of direct mail, dealing with this subject matter, that could be viewed as a comic book by children is something that is just not acceptable," Coleman wrote in a letter to NRSC chairman John Ensign. "I'm astonished that anyone would have used such poor judgment."

Poll: GOP Sen. Smith Already Losing Badly With Half The Vote In
The new SurveyUSA poll shows Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) trailing Democrat Jeff Merkley by a 49%-42% margin -- and the internals are even worse. Half of the voters have already turned in their ballot, the poll says, and this group has given Merkley a 51%-41% win. Time is running out for Smith to get the landslide win among the remaining voters that he would need in order to pull of a victory.

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Oh boy. Here's another Republican spreading the lie that China is working with Cuba to drill in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico -- this time coming in the middle of the House GOP's shadow energy session on the abandoned House Floor.

The latest is Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia, who according to the Politico claimed that Cuba "has given a lease to the Chinese" to drill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In fact, Cuba has not given any such lease to the Chinese, who have kept their drilling activities to the more accessible shoreline areas of Cuba. Leases have been granted to companies from other countries for offshore areas, but no drilling has actually begun.