More Election News

• SD-AL: Democrats' Own 'Mama Grizzly' vs. 'The Next Sarah Palin'
• VT: Democratic Primary Race Goes Down to the Wire
• FL: Money Flows, Mud Flies in Dem Primary
• AZ: McCain Poised to Crush Hayworth
• NV-3: Heck, Titus Hoping for Ugly Win
• AZ: Jan Brewer's Turnaround
• NV: Angle Campaign Takes Delight in Reid Statements
• TX: Business Deals Eclipse Perry-White Race
• TN-4: Tight Race Forecast Between Davis and DesJarlais
• NY: Lazio Finds an Issue in Furor Over Islamic Center
• FL: Marco Rubio Veers From Tea Party's Script
• CO-4: Markey, Gardner Try to Define the Battleground
• AK: Names Not on Ballot Play Roles

The Missouri Senate race just got a lot nastier.

First, Democratic nominee Robin Carnahan put out what Democratic strategists are calling one of the best TV spots of the cycle so far. The attack ad renames her Republican opponent, Roy Blunt, "Mr. Bailout" and includes a reel of footage that shows how he helped shepherd the bank bailout's passage.

Hours later, Blunt's campaign posted a Web video to its site taking Carnahan to task for refusing to say definitively whether a mosque should be built near Ground Zero. The video included images of the World Trade Center ruins and sparked criticism of the Blunt campaign, which quickly removed the video from the Web.

On Thursday, Carnahan turned the tables on Blunt after the video disappeared, seeking to keep the story alive with her call for Blunt to apologize.

"Congressman Blunt's desperate attempt to avoid talking about his role in the $700 billion bailout by exploiting victims and families of the 9-11 tragedies is the very worst kind of Washington politics," she said. "Congressman Blunt should immediately own up to what he did, take responsibility for it, and apologize to the families of the 9-11 victims, whose tragedy he exploited for his own personal political benefit."

Earlier in the week both campaigns were trading fire over Blunt's new jobs plan. Carnahan first went after Blunt without checking out the plan, causing the Blunt team to pounce and argue that she has not offered a comprehensive plan of her own. Democrats later suggested that nothing in Blunt's plan would help grow the economy, but Carnahan undercut that message when touring the Missouri State Fair on Thursday by volunteering that she supports extending the Bush tax cuts - a position Blunt shares, and one that he included in his plan.