With the help of mild Facebook identity theft and a ton of fake fliers, someone has been spreading the rumor that Sen. Barack Obama would be visiting the University of Pittsburgh for a rally, the Pitt News reports. The Obama campaign has called reports of a rally "unfounded"—leaving behind the mystery of who would go through all the trouble to get everyone so worked up.
The prolific fliers and Obama websites have helped perpetuate the rumor, but perhaps most strange is the Obama supporter who has had his Facebook identity coopted to advertise the "event." On Facebook, there are now two people named "Dan Gore" with identical profile pictures. The real Gore, a Pitt sophomore and head of the Students for Barack Obama Pitt chapter, is part of the university's network on Facebook and has an active friend network and profile. The other Dan Gore—who created the fake event announcement on the social networking site—is in the Pittsburgh network and has no Facebook friends as of last night. The good people at the Pitt News even tried to friend him, to no avail.
"This is absolutely fictitious. It's subverting my name," Gore said. "This is scandalous."
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Paulo of DC 11:20AM March 27, 2008