* A quick read of a CBS Evening News story seems to clear up the mystery surrounding those mailers that promoted a Libertarian US Senate candidate here…

Never perhaps have there been stranger political bedfellows. In Nevada, a pro-Harry Reid group — he’s the Senate’s lead Democrat — promotes a little-known Tea Party candidate running against Reid: Scott Ashjian.

Illinois Democrat Alexi Giannoulias is running for Senate, yet funding ads propping up his Libertarian opponent. […]

Democrat Giannoulias helps a long shot Libertarian to try to take votes from Republican opponent Mark Kirk.

Some Democrats openly disclose their efforts. But for others, the tie is harder to find. You’d think this one flyer was put out by conservatives: it calls Iowa’s Republican candidate for Governor Terry Branstad “liberal” like “Clinton, Obama and Pelosi.”

But IRS filings show it’s the Democratic Governors Association behind the ads. They’re hoping to split Republican votes.

Turns out, this may just be sloppy writing. The DGA copped to the Iowa mailer when I called them today, but their communications director emphatically denied that the group had anything to do with the Illinois mailings, saying they don’t involve themselves in Senate races.

I’ve left a message for Pete Giangreco, who was quoted in a Politico story about the mailers, to see what he says. He’s at a friend’s funeral, so I’ll let you know what he says later.

*** UPDATE 1 *** So, apparently, I missed this one from the Sun-Times…

After the debate, Giannoulias admitted his campaign, in coordination with the Democratic Party, funded a mailer to Downstate conservatives touting Libertarian Senate candidate Mike Labno as the “pro-life, pro-gun” alternative to Kirk, who supports abortion rights like Giannoulias and who at least previously favored restrictions on handguns.

The Democrats hoped to divert votes from Kirk to Labno. Is that deceptive?

“No,” Giannoulias said.

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* Meanwhile, the Kirk campaign has been pushing this story for a while now without success until yesterday…

(T)he Kirk campaign suggested Mr. Giannoulias is overstating his claim that he saved Hartmarx and its jobs by leaning on its lender, a division of Wells Fargo, in his current post as Illinois treasurer.

In fact, it says, the California bank was paid only about $96,000 a year by Illinois at a time when Mr. Giannoulias says he threatened to yank $8 billion in bank business.

Team Kirk also points to a TV ad by Sen. Charles Schumer that focuses on the New York Democrat’s work to save a Hartmarx subsidiary in his state.

Team Giannoulias replies that the Kirk folks have been trying to peddle this story for a while; that Wells Fargo indeed was “custodian” of $8 billion in Illinois funds, investing that money at the treasurer’s direction, and that lots of people worked to save Hartmarx.

The Giannoulias campaign has said repeatedly that it worked closely with organized labor and others, but freely admits that the treasurer didn’t speak more than a few minutes with the company’s former president. The factory’s union rep is fully behind Giannoulias, which greatly undercuts the Kirk claims that Giannoulias wasn’t sufficiently involved. A Politico blogger posted a story on the topic today…

I spoke to a former Hartmarx official, who agreed to speak on background and suggested that Giannoulias was making more of his role in the crisis than may have been the case. The official said that Giannoulias had just one contact with the company and heavily credited other officials, including Schumer and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), with working to get the bank to agree to a plan to save the jobs. […]

“I can’t say he did nothing,” the source added of Giannoulias but insisted that much of the work came from elsewhere.

I reached out to a Giannoulias spokesman, who told me that the campaign had never claimed that Giannoulias was the only force involved in saving Hartmarx, and that it was an effort of labor groups, elected officials and others.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Joe Costigan of UNITE-HERE just called to insist that Giannoulias played an “essential” role in keep the Hartmarx plant open. Costigan said Giannoulias was instrumental in making sure that this just wasn’t another anonymous factory closing in Chicago and worked hard with his union and others to make sure it stayed open. He also sharply criticized the Kirk campaign for attempting to minimize Giannoulias’ role.

…Adding… Kirk’s latest TV ad…

* And Kirk can’t even get off his tight talking points when making a YouTube video in front of his campaign volunteers…

Loosen up a bit, dude. It’s the Internet.

* Related…

* Senate hopefuls stress differences

* Groups that backed Kirk endorsing Giannoulias

* Giannoulias: Kirk ads ’straight negative’

* Obama Targets East and Midwest in Final Weekend of Campaigning