The home of Minneapolis anti-war activists Mick Kelly and Jess Sundin were among those searched, they told the AP.

“The FBI is harassing anti-war organizers and leaders, folks who opposed U.S. intervention in the Middle East and Latin America,” Kelly said before agents confiscated his cell phone.

Sundin called the suggestion they were connected with terrorism “pretty hilarious and ridiculous.”

Sundin was “a principal leader of the mass antiwar march of 10,000 on the opening day of the Republican National Convention two years ago,” and Kelly has said he would march on the Democratic National Convention if it were held in Minneapolis this year, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

As I wrote earlier this week, fusion centers have a habit of targeting domestic activist groups as terrorist organizations. During the 2008 protests against the RNC in St. Paul, a Minnesota fusion center played a role in coordinating law enforcement’s response to activists, for instance. The FBI is being tight-lipped about why it conducted the raids and what it was looking for, but it doesn’t take a huge stretch of the imagination to guess that information gathered in 2008 could have some connection to today’s action.

But after one solid day of relative tranquility, the Republican National Committee is back on the partisan warfare train.

Following the announcement that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) had accepted Obama’s offer to be his  chief of staff in the new administration, the RNC immediately released a memo accusing Obama of already breaking his promise to “bridge the divides.”

From The Page:

“Barack Obama’s first decision as president-elect undermines his promise to ‘heal the divides’. Rahm Emanuel is a partisan insider who played a lead role in breaking Washington. The White House needs a chief of staff — not a chief campaigner like Emanuel. Our nation will be ill-served if Obama runs the White House the way ‘Rahmbo’ ran the Democratic Congress.” – Alex Conant, RNC Spokesman

While Emanuel did gain a reputation as a partisan as  head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006, when the Democrats took control of Congress, he also brings to the table six years of experience working in the Clinton White House and another six years in Congress. He is also known as a centrist who often works with Republicans.

Given the shellacking the Republicans took just 48 hours ago, which many observers attributed in no small part to a rejection of the hyper-partisan atmosphere in Washington, it might behoove the RNC to refrain from screeching at every appointment Obama will make in the coming weeks. There will be plenty of time for that in the next four years.

When Republican delegates check-in to their hotel rooms in St. Paul this week, they will receive a “thank you” message on their televisions. An ad called “Thanks For The Memories,” produced by Campaign for America’s Future, will broadcast unforgettable moments from the last eight years that conservatives wish the country would forget. With Hurricane Gustav on the nation’s mind, the ad reminds viewers of the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina. It also highlights skyrocketing gas prices, soaring home foreclosures, the infamous “mission accomplished” banner…

The Campaign for America’s Future is a major progressive organization, and this effort is designed not only to cross enemy lines, but draw media attention (like this!) and fire up liberal supporters. The effort has already raised thousands online.

Another liberal group, however, with far less funding and no headquarters, is also running ads in St. Paul this week.

Many activists who criticized Sen. Barack Obama for changing his vote on surveillance have organized an ad campaign targeting the Republican National Convention. Jon Pincus, who helps organize the “Get FISA Right” group — to reform the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act — recently emailed me about their goals. (We came into contact online while both working against the FISA Amendment Act.) Pincus says civil-liberties activists can pivot from criticizing Obama to helping him beat McCain — who is worse on these issues:

We believe we’re much more likely to get meaningful reform with an Obama administration … from a timing perspective, the man’s got an election to win; as Obama supporters, it’s important for us to criticize his opponent as well as him. We think that [running ads during the RNC] is an effective way to take up Obama on his invitation to continue to engage in a dialogue — while simultaneously getting publicity for the FISA issue and starting to lay the groundwork for the battle next year.

One homemade ad invites Republicans to join a “new movement that puts the Constitution above politics.” Like the other effort, the ultimate goal is to leverage a targeted ad buy to reach voters far outside St. Paul