McCain Penn communications director pushed "incendiary" version of ATM attack hoax story

According to published reports, the communications director of John McCain's campaign in Pennsylvania, Peter Feldman, was pushing what has been called an "incendiary" version of the ATM attack hoax story (see two earlier stories below), supplying volatile -- and false -- details to local media outlets even before police had released any but the sketchiest of information.

According to the news director for KDKA in Pittsburgh, John Verrilli, McCain campaign official Feldman gave a reporter a detailed description of the attack, complete with the assertion that the "B" in the would in the supposed victim's face stood for "Barack" and that the fictitious assailant had said to the young campaign worker, "You're with the McCain campaign? I'm going to teach you a lesson."

Claims made by state campaign official Feldman were featured in early versions of KDKA's reporting of the story. The following paragraphs have since been removed from the original story:

The McCain camp tells KDKA-TV that the victim is a 20-year-old Republican from Texas.

According to a campaign spokesperson, after seeing her bumper sticker supporting McCain, the suspect said, "Oh you're with McCain, you're with the McCain campaign? I'm going to teach you a lesson."

After beating the woman, the McCain camp says the suspect carved a "B" in her cheek for "Barack" Obama.

Police, however, have not confirmed that.

It's important to note that there are no reports of similar story seeding or involvement in the incident by the national McCain campaign.

Talking Points Memo Election Central has considerable detail on the story behind the story.