Rep. Charlie Bass (R)

The state attorney general is accusing Republican U.S. Rep. Charlie Bass's 2010 campaign committee of using a push poll against Democrat Ann Kuster that did not mention the call was on his behalf. [...] The state's lawsuit, filed in Merrimack County Superior Court, seeks $400,000 in fines—up to $1,000 for each of the 400 calls allegedly made on behalf of Bass's campaign.

Push-polling is legal in New Hampshire as long as the call identifies the candidate it is supporting or opposing. That's where Attorney General Michael Delaney says Bass's campaign deliberately broke state law. The original draft of the call script, according to the lawsuit, included the disclosure, "The Tarrance Group wishes to thank you for participating in this survey - which was commissioned and paid for by the Bass Victory Committee... 603-226-6000. Good night." But in an email dated Sept. 16, 2010, authorities say Bass's campaign manager asked: "Could we change the disclaimer at the end to NRCC (National Republican Congressional Committee) since they are paying for half of it? I'd rather have any issues about 'push polling' be blamed on them (sorry Brock), rather than us—especially with the date rape drug question in there."

New Hampshire's laws against "push polling" may be over the top —indeed, they don't even define "push polling" correctly. But one thing they do require is that all polls which fall under their domain identify who has paid for them, and on that score, GOP Rep. Charlie Bass has gotten himself into quite a bit of trouble. The's Matthew Spolar details the story Far be it from me to defend the likes of Charlie Bass, but if you're a knowledgeable campaign watcher, you already know this can't possibly have been a true "push poll," since those are made to tends of thousands of voters, not, say, 400. But that's not why Bass has a problem. This is:As is so often the case, it's not the "crime" but the cover-up. As Spolar explains, "the date rape drug question likely referred to Kuster's work as a lobbyist for a company that made rohypnol, which was a focus of Republican attacks at the time." It was an ugly line of attack, and so you can imagine why the Bass campaign was eager to shift any blame for testing it out to the NRCC. It's also no surprise that it took not one but two subpoenas from the attorney general's office to squeeze these emails out of them.

Like I say, I'm not in love with New Hampshire's over-broad anti-polling laws, and I'd be surprised if Bass was made to pay the full $400K. But that's a huge sum, especially for a candidate who's never been a strong fundraiser, and if he's gotta fork over a good chunk of his war chest because he tried to hide his negative message-testing from voters, then I'll feel zero sympathy for him.