Evan McMorris-Santoro June 18, 2010, 6:27 PM

North Carolina Rep. Bob Etheridge (D) is battling back against an allegation of a past physical altercation with a high school student in the wake of his videotaped altercation with a college student this week. At the same time, reports have emerged that the viral internet video of the event that has pulled him from obscurity into the headlines may have been connected to the national Republican party.

Etheridge publicly apologized for the taped altercation, which took place last Thursday. While a video camera rolled, Etheridge physically confronted a self-described student who was asking him about his political positions.

The representative has taken a very different approach toward a new assault allegation, leveled by a Mississippi man, Brandon Leslie, who told the Southern Pines Pilot then-candidate Etheridge manhandled him in 1996 when Leslie was a senior at a North Carolina high school.

The circumstances of the ‘96 incident alleged by Leslie are similar to the events of last week — he told the paper that Etheridge “grabbed me by the shoulders” and “shook me” when Leslie pressed him about his stance on an issue at an appearance at Pincecrest High School in Moore County, NC.

After the article came out, Etheridge’s office sent out a quote from the principal of the high school at the time denying that anything like what Leslie described took place. In a followup article in the Pilot, an Etheridge spokesperson told the paper Leslie’s original report was “in error.”

The backdrop to all this, of course, is the 2010 election. Republicans think the video altercation makes Etheridge vulnerable, and at least one poll seems to bear that out. Conducted by SurveyUSA Tuesday and Wednesday, the poll shows Etheridge running neck and neck with the Republican nominee, Renee Ellmers. Etheridge drew 38% of the vote in the poll, Ellmers 39%. A Libertarian candidate took 13%.

More interesting than the poll — which comes months before the general election and doesn’t take into account Etheridge’s massive fundraising advantage over Ellmers — is the way the Republican is handling the situation. Ellmers is raising money off the clip, but at the same time her campaign seems to be trying to distance her from it.

In a press conference Wednesday, Ellmers’ chief strategist told reporters that the NRCC, which shipped the video out en masse this week, knows the identity of the two men questioning Etheridge, one of whom was blurred out on purpose when the video was edited.

“They told me yesterday they know who they are,” Ellmers strategist Carter Wrenn told reporters. “It wasn’t clear whether the students worked for them or not.”

The idea that the GOP knew the identity of the questioner — or perhaps sent them to confront Etheridge doesn’t make what Etheridge did to them OK, but it does give his campaign political cover to claim that the incident was a setup of some kind.

The NRCC did not respond to my inquiries about Wrenn’s claim today. NRCC spokespeson Ken Spain wouldn’t give Politico’s Ben Smith an answer either.

“Even if we did know who it was,” Spain told Smith, “the only relevant question is why can’t Bob Etheridge answer whether he supports the Obama agenda without resorting to assault.”

Bob Etheridge