Aug 21, 2008 10:54 pm US/Eastern
Officials: Threat Letters Sent To 2 McCain Offices
Letter Sent To Manchester, N.H. Office Deemed A Hoax
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (CBS News) ―
Threatening letters containing an unidentified white powder have been received at John McCain's campaign offices in Denver, Colorado, and Manchester, New Hampshire, CBS News has learned.
McCain's campaign office in Denver received a letter containing a threat and "an amount of white powder in it," a McCain campaign spokesman told CBS News' Michelle Levi.
"We immediately notified local and federal law enforcement agencies and are looking to cooperate with them," spokesman Jeff Sadosky said.
A hazardous materials team was trying to determine if the powder found in Colorado is harmful.
Another McCain spokesperson later said that McCain's New Hampshire office "received a similar letter."
Authorities say the letter sent to a McCain campaign office in
Manchester, N.H. that was believed to have been a threat has turned out to be
a false alarm.
The
Manchester office was briefly evacuated. Authorities now say the New
Hampshire letter was a false alarm and did not contain white powder.
The city of Denver is at a heightened security level, as the Secret Service and other officials prepare for the Democratic National Convention, which is set to begin on Monday.
A staffer in Denver opened the envelope containing the white substance, and the building was evacuated, reports CBS4 in Denver. The FBI, Secret Service, and local authorities responded to the scene.
As many as twelve people were exposed to the substance, CBS station KCNC-TV reports, but no one apparently reported suffering any symptoms. Seven people drove themselves to Sky Ridge Medical Center, but none showed any symptoms of exposure to a toxic substance, said hospital spokeswoman Linda Watson.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
