Senator Moving Off Campus

The latest from the Political Grapevine:

Moving Off Campus

Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton of Minnesota is closing his Washington office until after Election Day, insisting classified intelligence presented to him and his fellow senators has made him fear for the safety of his staff.

Dayton says, "I take this step out of extreme, but necessary, precaution. ... I feel compelled to do so because I will not be here in Washington to share what I consider to be an unacceptably greater risk to [my staff's] safety."

His Washington staff will temporarily work in Senate space away from the Capitol.

Homeland security officials said today they have no specific threats against any buildings in Washington, let alone the U.S. Capitol.

Candidate Controversy

A couple of U.S. Senate candidates seem to have talked themselves into hot water.

In Oklahoma, Democrats are calling Republican candidate Tom Coburn "perverse" and "reckless" for saying in a recent meeting that "lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they'll only let one girl go to the bathroom [at a time]. ... How is it that that's happened to us?"

Democrats insist that's not true, and Coburn says the comments have been taken out of context.

And in Kentucky, Republican incumbent candidate Jim Bunning is calling on Democratic rival Daniel Mongiardo to apologize for "circulating horrible rumors" that he is suffering from dementia.

Bunning's campaign has released two doctors' notes saying he is in "excellent health." Mongiardo denies spreading rumors.

Voting Felons?

Records compiled by the Denver Post show that despite a state law banning them from voting, nearly 6,000 Colorado felons in jail or on parole are now registered to vote, with more than 500 felons having registered this year alone.

A handful of them voted in Colorado's August primary, and Colorado Secretary of State Donetta Davidson has now called for an emergency meeting to keep them from voting in the presidential election.

Blix's Belief

Newly released documents indicate that before the war in Iraq began, former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix believed the British government's case against Saddam Hussein was not only accurate, but may have understated Iraq's ability to produce weapons of mass destruction.

A note from a British official to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says that in September 2002, Blix was shown a draft of a British dossier outlining the threat posed by Saddam — a dossier that would later be the subject of accusations the British government "sexed up" its reasons for war.

The note says: "On the whole, Blix liked the section [on WMDs in the dossier] — he felt it did not exaggerate the facts, nor revert to rhetoric. ... [But] Blix also thought that the section risked understating Iraq's indigenous capacity to produce WMD."

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report