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This short film is just one of many offerings in the premiere issue of the wonderful Wholphin, a quarterly “DVD magazine of unseen things.” This short was written by Miranda July, was directed by Miguel Arteta and stars John C. Reilly, July, Mike White and Chuy Chavez. The first DVD also includes the charming Spike Jonze documentary of Al Gore that (I think) would’ve won him the 2004 election, an excerpt of David O. Russell’s Iraq war documentary, and an adaptation of the Alison Smith short story “The Specialist,” starring Selma Blair.

Wholphin, edited by Brent Hoff, is the latest McSweeney’s project. We like it an awful lot. You can order your own right here. (Note: film may take several seconds to load.)

Open Salon interview.

A struggling Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., went nuclear Wednesday, with an ad that tries to ally challenger Bob Casey with North Korea and China. Ah, the acrid smell of desperation in the weeks before a congressional election! Be prepared for even more of these terror-filled spots in these glorious final days of Campaign 2006, all of which carry a little DNA from the mother of all scare ads: The 1964 Lyndon Johnson “Daisy Girl” ad against Barry Goldwater (bottom ad, below).

From Michael Scherer’s piece today: “The GOP seems to believe that Ford’s appeal to its most reliable voters is working. In recent days, the Republican National Committee has attempted to reverse the troubling polls in Tennessee with a television ad that both attacks Ford’s religious credentials and invokes that old standby of American politics, racial fear.”

This National Republican Senatorial Committee ad against Harold Ford sports an early mention of a Playboy connection that the party hopes will rile Christians against Ford.

Salon’s piece on Rep. Harold Ford Jr.’s senate campaign spotlights his appeal to churchgoers, as in the TV spot below.