It looks like the National Republican Congressional Committee is so eager to get rid of Democrat Collin Peterson in the conservative 7th District that they responded a little too quickly to a report that the congressman was attending the climate change summit in Copenhagen.

"As if selling out Minnesota's ag community with his National Energy Tax wasn't enough, Collin Peterson is heading to Copenhagen to lend a hand in crafting a global climate change treaty," wrote NRCC spokester Tom Erickson in a statement Thursday. "Given Peterson's track record as Nancy Pelosi's puppet on global warming, Greater Minnesota farmers better hold onto their wallets and hope that Peterson doesn't cut another deal that will make it even harder for them to make ends meet."

The statement cited a story in The Hill newspaper last week which noted that the Agriculture Committee chairman was "expected to attend" the summit. A committee staffer said today that the congressman is not going, however, adding that she does not know the origin of reports to the contrary.

Peterson's hometown paper, The Bemidji Pioneer, picked up on the NRCC statement on Friday but later had to correct their story.