Meg Whitman's campaign, hit today as only the campaign of a California self-funder could be by a TMZ report of a lawsuit from a former domestic employee, responds through spokeswoman Andrea Jones Rivera:

With the polls tied, it comes as no surprise that the morning after a successful debate for Meg that the sleaze machine of the political left is now focused on the politics of personal destruction. Gloria Allred is a shameful manipulator and the timing of today’s news conference so close to the election should serve as a warning to Californians that they are witnessing dirty political smears at their worst.

The campaign points to a $150 contribution from Allred to Jerry Brown's '06 Attorney General campaign, a bit of a thin reed, and more convincingly to a (dismissed) suit against Arnold Schwarzenegger by a stuntwoman during the '03 campaign.

I'm not sure why the facts suggest that Allred is playing politics, rather than trying to get some headlines and some leverage for her client.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0910/Whitman_responds_to_lawsuit_threat.html?showall