Indiana is an example. Look at Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, and even Pennsylvania. The GOP has been hard at work altering the system to not necessarily benefit Republicans but to most definitely make it difficult for Democrats to win.
What about the attorneys scandal? While published in April 2008, this article titled, “The Republican War on Voting,” could not be more relevant and, written by Art Levine, it highlights how the “Department of Justice, friendly governors, and its usual propaganda outlets” have “propagated the myth of voter fraud to purge the rolls of non-Republicans.”
Unfortunately, the public hasn't heard just how nonexistent the voter fraud epidemic actually is. While progressives have successfully challenged some of the most restrictive laws in court, they're still playing catch-up when it comes to combating the glib sound bites of voter-fraud alarmists. Republicans and the Bush Justice Department have cloaked their schemes under such noble-sounding concepts as "ballot integrity." The GOP's vote-suppression playbook features everything from phony lawsuits to questionable investigations to authoritative-seeming reports, all with the aim of promoting restrictive laws. These tactics were first perfected in the hotly contested swing state of Missouri.
David Iglesias, an now famous attorney who was fired is quoted in the article. He said of voter fraud, “It's like the boogeymen parents use to scare their children. It's very frightening, and it doesn't exist. U.S. attorneys have better things to do with their time than [chase] voter-fraud phantoms.”
Greg Palast says it's not who was fired in the attorneys scandal but who the GOP replaced those who were fired with.
All the governors of battleground states (Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Florida Governor Charlie Crist, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, North Carolina Governor Mike Easley, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson) could most likely be defeated or would most likely befriend John McCain if he challenged the official count.
Ed Rendell, a Democrat, was in the news in 2004 for, “ensuring that prisoners who were eligible to vote have an opportunity to do so.” Hannity and the GOP pounced on this.
Tim Kaine, a Democrat, is under fire in Virginia for “loosening” voter registration rules for college students. Michelle Malkin raises the red flag.
Mike Easley, a Democrat, is governor of a state that came under fire in 2004 for having approximately 60,000 people registered in both North Carolina and South Carolina.
Ted Strickland, a Democrat, needs no news article or link to prove that he will be under fire inevitably. After all, he had to defeat the malevolent Kenneth Blackwell to win his gubernatorial race.
Jim Doyle, a Democrat, is embroiled in this bitter lawsuit with Attorney General J.P. Van Hollen, co-chairman of the McCain campaign in Wisconsin. http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=795696
Bill Richardson, a Democrat, is cited in the above cited article, “The Republican War on Voting”, as being responsible for crippling mass voter registration.
Matt Blunt, Jim Gibbons, and Charlie Crist are the only GOP governors in battleground states so battleground state wins for McCain will largely depend on how the McCain campaign and the GOP get Democratic governors to react to accusations that the official voter count is inaccurate.
The system is stacked in the GOP’s favor. Unless…
If the American people do a smell test when the GOP challenges the results of the election, it’s possible that Obama might do something different than Kerry or Gore and actually fight the GOP’s cries of voter fraud vigorously. It’s possible. They are doing a smell test with McCain's attacks on Obama and it is paying off.
I’m inclined to speculate and say that Obama’s pragmatist or centrist politics and his love for compromise may handicap Americans’ chances of Barack Obama seriously taking on any battle he may be given the opportunity to engage in after the election results come in. I will not, however, definitively say that Obama would not challenge GOP tactics.
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