Breaking on KDKA Channel 02: "A Pittsburgh police commander says a volunteer for the McCain campaign who reported being robbed and attacked near a bank ATM in Bloomfield has confessed to making up the story. Police say charges will be filed."

Yesterday, Matt Drudge breathlessly reported that a 20-year-old white McCain staffer had been mutilated by an Obama supporter who carved the letter "B" (for Barack) into her face. The staffer, Ashely Todd, claimed a 6′4” black Obama supporter robbed her at knifepoint outside an ATM in Pittsburgh.

The racial overtones and Scarlet Letter symbology obviously struck a cord with the right wing blogosphere and FOX News. The executive vice president of Fox News, John Moody, suggested that the attack was a good reason not to vote for Obama: "If Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator  Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee."

Media sources tell me that yesterday evening the McCain/Palin campaign was pushing reporters to cover the alleged attack as a politically-motivated incident. 

A photo of Todd with a B-shaped welt on her right cheek led many observers to wonder how (and why) a mugger could draw a backwards "B" without breaking the skin.

After the attack, Todd went to a friend’s house and only summoned the police 45 minutes later. Police say that ATM records contradict her claim that she used the machine shortly before the alleged attack.