KSPR Not Issuing a Joint Statement With Scott Eckersely Over MO-7 E-Mailgate

Scott Eckersley's campaign just released the following press release:

Springfield, MO 29th October 2010: An email sent to media outlets across Missouri’s 7th District claiming that Scott Eckersley is withdrawing from Missouri’s 7th District Congressional race is false, and was not sent from the Eckersley Campaign. The Eckersley Campaign suspects the Billy Long Campaign’s involvement with the press release.

“This is the worst kind of negative campaigning - when a campaign hides while they have others do their dirty work. I am sure Billy would love to have me out of the race, but this isn’t the way to go about it,” said Eckersley,

“This thing isn’t over until November 2nd.” Eckersley and KSPR will be issuing a joint statement today at 2:00 PM today from the KSPR studios to refute the phony press release. ###

As this strange story continues to develop, I thought it was odd that KSPR would be issuing a joint statement with the Eckersley campaign. KSPR's news room says they don't know why the Eckersley campaign said this in their press release, but KSPR will not be issuing a joint statement with the Eckersley camp.

The day gets stranger in the events surrounding the e-mail claiming Eckersley was quitting the race. Earlier today, James Harris, Billy Long's campaign strategist was quick to tweet about it without checking sources. He and Shawn Bell, who has claims made against him of a similar campaign e-mail controversy, tweeted the Eckersely dropped out of the race around the 9:00 hour and then deleted the tweets sometime around 10:00 am. They have issued no reversal that I have seen, and appear to have manipulated the story for Billy Long's advantage. Both campaigns are making illogical moves concerning the fraudulent e-mail