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Movie geeks will remember this number from when it was reproduced at the beginning of 2001′s “Ghost World.” We watch it when The Man is getting us down. We have no idea what the hell is going on, except that it’s credited to Mohammed Rafi and comes from a 1965 Bollywood suspense thriller called “Gumnaam” (which means “lost one”). But we can tell you that the New York staff of Salon can completely reproduce the entire choreographed number — critic-at-large Laura Miller dances the part of the swinging-gold lead lovely, while Audiofile’s Thomas Bartlett is our masked crooner. (Thanks to Erik for the link!)

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.