Thursday, August 21, 2008

Two McCain offices evacuated after letter threat

Two offices of John McCain's U.S. presidential campaign, in Colorado and New Hampshire, were evacuated on Thursday, and several staffers were hospitalized, after a threatening letter arrived in the mail containing an unidentified white powder.

But within hours, the letter was traced by authorities to a Colorado jail inmate who has a history of sending threatening mail, and initial tests of the envelope and its contents turned up negative for hazardous materials, the U.S. Secret Service said.

The New Hampshire scare over a second envelope there was later deemed to be an unrelated incident brought about by anxiety over the threatening letter received in Colorado.

McCain, 71, a Republican senator from Arizona and his party's presumed nominee for president, was taking the day off from the campaign, spending the day at his home in Sedona, Arizona. - reuters

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