Maddow re-enacts ejection from O’Donnell headquarters

Well, Delaware GOP Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell did say she'd be avoiding national press appearances. But the tea-party-endorsed hopeful recently managed to dodge national press coverage in a way that's only gotten her more none-too-complimentary media attention: Her campaign staffers evicted two producers from MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" from O'Donnell's campaign headquarters in Wilmington.

Maddow relayed some of the details to The Upshot on Tuesday afternoon. On Tuesday's night show, Maddow — along with executive producer Bill Wolff and producer Laura Conway — ran through the entire ordeal of trying to speak with an O'Donnell campaign staffer.

Maddow, a liberal commentator, said she understands that O'Donnell may not want to speak to the show but was surprised that no one from the campaign was willing to answer questions.

O'Donnell's only recent national media appearances have been on Fox News. She claimed a couple of weeks ago on Sean Hannity's Fox show that she would now be focusing on Delaware media.

But local journalists say that O'Donnell hasn't been giving them much access either. Ron Williams, a columnist for the Wilmington News Journal, told Maddow that despite O'Donnell's talk of doing local media, "we haven't seen her." Reporter Ginger Gibson added that she's never had so much trouble reaching a campaign.

Politico's Jonathan Martin wrote Tuesday that O'Donnell is one of several Republican candidates with tea party backing in the primaries who are now dodging media questions in the home stretch of their Senate runs.

"O'Donnell," he wrote, "has been nearly impossible to track down in Delaware since winning her primary last month and actually had to deny Friday that she was in hiding."

However, O'Donnell did make her presence known in the past few days by rolling out her first television ad. There, O'Donnell directly addressed Delaware voters with the message that she's not a witch.