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TIME Links US Militias, Patriot Movement Ahead Of Election

WASHINGTON (CBS)  — Weeks before American voters head to the polls for the 2010 midterm elections, TIME Magazine has come out with an exclusive look at what it calls the "secret world of extreme militias".

A six-month investigation reveals that recruiting, planning, training and explicit calls for a shooting war are on the rise, according to the news magazine, just as the FBI and other law enforcement groups are stepping up criminal investigations.

Both sides of the political aisle, meanwhile, are vying for a piece of the growing support behind the political rise of the Tea Party movement, with many of its members already succeeding in ousting their party's incumbent candidate in the primary vote.

Managing editor Richard Stengel says the report is "a very serious story,  it's a very serious investigation, it's very explosive."

As for its debut less than a month before the pivotal midterm vote, Stengel says, "The timing is in some ways awkward."

Criminologist and civil rights attorney Brian Levin joins KFWB's Maggie McKay and Michael Shappee with his insight.

Click here to check out managing editor Richard Stengel comment on the TIME cover story.

(©2010 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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