A threat of legal action from the governing party drew a hasty response from DeFontes Broadcasting yesterday.Premier Paula Cox demanded a retraction of a report on VSB News which linked her party to an opinion piece entitled Electoral Strategy of Racist Politics.She condemned the piece and said it had been prepared for a group which had never been affiliated with the PLP.The television broadcaster was quick to comply with an unreserved on-air apology, saying it had made a mistake.But the Premier said she expected “further desperate, mischievous and malicious tactics as election day, December 17th nears”.“This report is not a PLP Report and there has been no involvement by Mr Markham in our election campaign,” the Premier said at an Alaska Hall press conference yesterday morning.The opinion was prepared for a group that calls itself the Young Progressives which “is not affiliated nor has it ever been affiliated with the Progressive Labour Party”, she added.“It is an independent group that is tied to an independent candidate running for the House of Assembly. Our attorneys have been instructed to file a defamation lawsuit against all parties that our attorneys deem appropriate.“For a news organisation to not even give us the courtesy of a phone call before alleging that an opinion entitled, and I quote, Electoral Strategy of Racist Politics and subtitled, and I quote, Racist Propaganda, is beyond the pale.“From what we could make out on our television screens last night, the report appeared to begin with a quote from Adolf Hitler.“That is disgusting. We condemn this opinion piece in the strongest terms.“This report is an insult to the intelligence of every Bermudian. It is inconceivable that any political party would commission anything that began with a quote from the Nazi leader. It is not believable of the PLP and it is not believable of the OBA. We expect VSB News to issue a full retraction leading all of their newscasts.”When the retraction and apology did start airing, audiences heard that the broadcaster believed that Mr Markham was a consultant to the PLP and that the group Young Progressives was affiliated with the governing party.One Bermuda Alliance Leader Craig Cannonier issued a statement yesterday evening condemning Mr Markham's paper.“We find every aspect of the language, quotes and strategies outlined in the report to be reprehensible and offensive, having absolutely no place in politics in Bermuda, or anywhere for that matter,” Mr Cannonier said.He added: “It is time for this election to move beyond the politics of rumors and distraction to addressing the real problems of real people.”Said Ms Cox in a statement issued on her behalf yesterday afternoon: “This pantomime that has played out over the media seems fabricated, contrived and is certainly, a curious coincidence. We hope that the Media Council has taken note and we intend to follow up with them to ensure that this doesn't happen again.“I have been in politics long enough to know when something does not smell right and the people of Bermuda are smart enough to know when something isn't right. The circumstances surrounding the coverage of this story reeks and takes journalism in Bermuda to a new low.”Mr Markham told The Royal Gazette that he had no idea how the material got to the media. The paper, he said, was a work in progress and had not been commissioned by the PLP.“I was exploring the deep psychological issues” surrounding voting decisions and race, he said.“The issue was do we have a genetic predisposition to vote by race.”Mr Markham said he had asked the PLP for money to continue his exploration but they said no.“I'm ready to go to the next stage which is a much deeper proof of how the brain reacts to political campaigns,” he said.Mr Markham is a retired businessman and co-founder of the “World Council on Spiritual Diplomacy”.