A suburban Denver campaign office of presidential candidate John McCain was evacuated this afternoon, and several people went to a hospital (presumably as a cautionary measure) after receiving an envelope containing a threatening letter and an unidentified white powder.
Our All This Is That stringer in Denver, rooted out the actual story a little later. According to Mary Houlihan, our mid-west correspondent, there was no threatening letter at all. That was just a cover story after someone called police and Homeland Security when they found the powdery substance. The story was soon picked up by the press.
The reason you haven't seen a correction or retraction of the story--that seems to imply a terrorist angle--is that it was, in fact, the Senator's monthly supply of Polident that had broken open. . .which the campaign does not want to announce or admit, especially after the implied possible terrorist/anthrax angle. The McCain campaign has struggled in recent months to portray the Senator as a vigorous 70 year old, and any Polident talk will not bolster that image, according to a low-level staffer's conversation with All This Is That's stringer.
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