"60 Minutes" to report on Karl Rove's quest to ruin former Alabama governor

This Sunday, the CBS news show "60 Minutes" will report on an alleged five-year secret campaign spearheaded by former White House advisor Karl Rove to bring down Don Siegelman, who served as Alabama's governor from 1999 to 2003 after previous stints as Secretary of State, Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor.

Rep. Bob Riley defeated Siegelman for re-election in November 2002 by about 3,000 votes. A voting machine glitch in a single county put Riley over the top, with votes in no other races affected. Coincidentally, all of the elections officials in that county were Republicans, and they conducted the recount after midnight when the Democratic Party observers had gone home. Democrats' requests to repeat the recount were rejected by Alabama courts and then-Attorney General William H. Pryor Jr., who were all Republicans or appointed by Republicans.

In 1999, Alabama's U.S. Attorneys began a criminal investigation into controversial accusations of corruption involving Siegelman. He was indicted in 2004, convicted in 2005, and is now serving a seven-year federal prison sentence. Click here for more details on the case from TPMMuckraker.com.

But last year, Dana Jill Simpson -- a Republican attorney and political activist from Rainsville, Ala. -- signed a sworn statement that she had been on a Republican campaign conference call in which she heard GOP operative Bill Canary say not to worry about Siegelman because his "girls" and "Karl" would make sure the Justice Department took care of him. His "girls" allegedly included his wife, Leura Canary -- the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama. Simpson has said that she spoke out because Siegelman's prosecution and imprisonment bothers her conscience.

For more on the upcoming "60 Minutes" story -- including a clip of Simpson talking to reporter Scott Pelley, as well as Pelley's discussion of his report -- click here.