Louisiana Watergate featured on the cover of this week's City Pages

​When reports emerged that a group of Republican activists were fiddling with the phone of a Democratic U.S. Senator in Louisiana, it was impossible not to draw comparisons to the bungled burglary of Watergate.

Soon after, it came out that one of the so-called "teabuggers" was Joe Basel, a graduate of the University of Minnesota-Morris, where he was a well-known conservative provocateur.

We set out to chronicle his rise to power, from editor of the Counterweight to palling around with James O'Keefe, the young firebrand who dressed up as a pimp for a video expose of ACORN.

The result is "The Rise and Fall of Joe Basel" by Andy Mannix. To help keep the gang of characters straight, we've also assembled a "Know Your Teabugger" guide.

Stay tuned throughout the day for additional web extra content.