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Tweets Give Race-Baiting Hoaxster a 'B' for Effort
By Sarah Lai Stirland October 24, 2008 | 4:12:41 PMCategories: Election '08
Thanks to an unattended Twitter widget, a website intended to promote the work of 50 young Republican volunteers became an unwitting showcase for the mockery of one group member Friday, when it emerged that the volunteer faked a macabre attack on herself and tried to pin it on a nonexistent Obama supporter and mugger.
Ashley Todd, a 20-year-old college student and McCain volunteer, admitted on Friday that she made up a widely reported story about being mugged by a so-called big black guy at an ATM in Pittsburgh. She falsely told police this week that her assailant became enraged after seeing a John McCain bumper sticker on her car, and proceeded to scratch a backwards "B" — for "Barack" — on her face. It now appears the mark was self-inflicted, and police say it's expected to heal completely.
Todd was one of the members of a group called 50 College Republicans that has been publicizing its activities through a blog and Twitter feed on a website called Life in the Field. The volunteers' tweets carried the hashtag "#litf08."
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http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/college-republi.html