Did Fraudulent E-Mail Claiming Eckersley Quit Come From Billy Long's Campaign?

Today's 9:00 AM KSPR news had an interesting story that appears may create another controversy that could surround Billy Long's campaign in the race for Missouri 7. KSPR reported they received an e-mail early this morning from Scott Eckersley claiming he was dropping out of the campaign due to family issues.

The e-mail address came from s.eckersley@yahoo.com, and it appears to be a fraudulent e-mail address now according to the Eckersley campaign. Eckersley said he is not dropping out of the race and the e-mail was fraudulent. He calls the e-mail dirty politicking. They my report the e-mail to federal officials to look into possible election tampering and mail fraud but wouldn't say if they believe the e-mail came from Billy Long's campaign.

The Eckersley campaign says they have been getting calls from the media all morning with questions about the e-mail. The Joplin Globe has called and even Wes Johnson at the News-Leader called. Wanna bet Wes Johnson's investigation stops at the phone call?

Each e-mail comes with a unique ISP address which identifies where the e-mail was sent. Such a fraudulent e-mail send to the press could be a major break of election laws.

Earlier this year, there was an anonymous Web site called Defeat Nodler, which many people believe Billy Long was behind. The information on the site was libelous and developed as an attack on other candidates with the exception of Billy Long and the Long is Wrong Web site. This isn't the first time the Long campaign may be behind questionable tactics using the Internet.

As well, there are bogus Twitter accounts using Eckersley's name that aren't official Eckersley campaign tweets, and its unknown who are behind them. If the e-mails ISP leads back to Long's campaign, Billy Long may have a serious FEC ethics problem, this could get very interesting