UPDATE 2: Meehan Apologizes, AP Left With Egg on Face

The latest: Michael Meehan, the Coakley staffer involved in last night’s scuffle, no make that a stumble, let’s try it one more time, the shoving incident with a Weekly Standard reporter, has now apologized:

Last evening I was a little too aggressive in the confusion of trying to help the Attorney General get to her car and catch a flight.

I clearly did not intend to cause John McCormack to trip and fall over that low fence. As the video shows and he confirms in his blog, I stopped to help him up and make sure he was OK.

I talked with Mr. McCormack this afternoon and apologized for my part.

Maybe the AP won’t be quite so ready to go into Democrat-protective mode next time.

Original post:

Last night, while trying to ask a question of the slumping “Massachusette” herself, Martha Coakley, The Weekly Standard‘s John McCormack found himself on the ground after an apparent altercation.

With her campaign moving into full panic mode as the polls tighten, this is the last thing the woman who aspires to “Teddy Kennedy’s seat” needs. Of course, the campaign says that McCormack fell. You be the judge:

[youtube g8CdfQGlgVw nolink]

UPDATE: Right on schedule, the Associated Press steps up to the plate to assert — without any evidence — that McCormack “stumbled.” The AP’s account is headlined: “Reporter Stumbles Chasing Hopeful for Kennedy Seat.”

BOSTON (AP) – A reporter trying to question the Democrat seeking to replace Edward Kennedy in the Senate has been involved in a scuffle with one of her aides.

John McCormack of the Weekly Standard fell Tuesday night as he tried to speak with state Attorney General Martha Coakley. He was videotaping her while trying to pass a metal grate on a Washington sidewalk.

Photos and video show Coakely aide Michael Meehan trying to help McCormack up.

A scuffle broke out as Meehan tried to block McCormack and determine whether he was an operative of a rival campaign. Coakley is shown ignoring McCormack.

So which is it, AP? A “scuffle” or a “stumble”?

Meanwhile, Coakley is blaming Republican “stalkers” for the dustup. You mean, one of those “macaca” situations?

How long before the next explanation? Counting down from… now.