Yesterday, a tape was released showing Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn, the GOP's nominee for the seat being vacated by Republican senator Don Nickles, justifying his opposition to gay marriage with the following assertion:"Lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they'll only let one girl go to the bathroom. Now think about it. Think about that issue. How is it that that's happened to us?" To date, the Coburn campaign hasn't identified which schools practice this policy, and state education officials say they had never heard of any such thing.

The remark comes on the heels of Coburn describing the contest between him and conservative Dem congressman Brad Carson as a showdown between the forces of"good and evil"; reports surfacing that Coburn, an M.D.-turned-congressman, once sterilized a woman without her written consent; and the nominee publicly terming residents of the state's capitol, Oklahoma City," crapheads."

There is, however, one major difference between Keyes and Coburn. While Keyes is now running 50 points behind (and polling less than 20 percent of the vote), according to the latest Daily Oklahomanpoll, Coburn trails Carson by only two points. With Bush expected to carry the state by a 2-1 margin, there's a pretty good chance Coburn will be carrying his campaign against school bathroom pass policy to the Senate.