Earlier this week Democratic Senators were briefed by senior Democratic National Committee staffers on the events and plans the party has come up with for the final days before Tuesday's elections. "You're going to be seeing a lot of stories on Sunday about Republican candidates all over the country just pop up," says a Democratic Senate staffer who was afterward told about the meeting by his boss. "Various campaigns have held back on opposition research and are looking to have those stories dumped over the weekend leading into election day."

It wasn't clear from the briefing whether the national party was aware of what stories were going to break, but local campaign staffs had apparently been pitching story leads to local reporters for several weeks, in the hopes of seeing those damaging stories published and aired in the days leading up to November 5th.

"The key is getting them out at a time when the target can't respond in a way to satisfy undecided voters," says a DNC source. "So Sunday is the perfect day with a Tuesday election."

And this year undecided voters are more important than ever. In key Senate races, from South Dakota to Minnesota to Missouri, polls indicate that better than 15 percent of the electorate remains undecided. "It's always about swaying the undecideds," says the DNC source. "This year it's just more important than usual."

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2002