Obama needs to call the repubs out every time. By being proactive, you force them to go on record and alert the media.

The slimey elements of the republican party work best in darkness. A bright light needs to be cast on all the usual areas of malfeasance.

Given the McCain campaign hostility to the media, I am hoping they will actually do their job for once.

The Democrats should have learned from 2000 and 2004 that voter suppression is clearly what the Republicans are using in the field to try to win elections. There needs to be serious oversight of polling places to avoid anymore "irregularities" in this critical election. I've long said that the UN really needs to send election observers to our elections, now that it's been demonstrated that our country (or at least the GOP) is having trouble honoring free and fair elections.

I fully expect McCain et al. to contest the election in the event that they lose in the fall -- the goal for a highly-partisan minority in such a situation is to call the entire process into question, and to try to deprive the winner of political legitimacy.

So, I think we can likely expect voter suppression by the GOP's hit squads leading up to the election, and contesting of the election should they lose. And, if by some miracle, McCain/Palin manage to eke out a win, then they same GOP that is perpetrating voter suppression and fraud will crow about how fair the elections were, and how any contesting of them is un-American.

This is how a cynical, partisan minority game the system. It's been done before, people. If the Democrats fall for it again, then they should simply rename themselves the "Dumbocrats" and be done with it, because then they're finished as a functional party.

We'd be fools to believe this is "just a distraction" when there is evidence that the Republicans employed similar tactics in the last two presidential elections. What would cause them to stop this practice now when they are more desperate than ever? I applaud the Obama campaign for dealing with this in advance of the election.

I hope the Obama campaign doesn't have their head up their asses and have ALREADY been planning for things like these. If they're caught by surprise by stuff like this, they will be fucked.

Republicans CHEAT. They will lie, cage, rig machines, do wahtever they can to steal another election because they can't win on the issues.

Obama campaign - you have to play TOUGH OFFENSE to win, not pussy defense.

Fight fire with fire.

The Wisconsin State Attorney General, a Republican and State Chair for the McCain campaign, is apparently looking to remove from voter rolls anyone who registered since 2006 who's name doesn't match exactly the name that person provides to the Department of Motor Vehicles, including those who included a middle initial on one and not the other. Voters with even such minor discrepencies (or no state ID at all) will have to vote with a provisional ballot if this tactic is successful. See http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-wisc13-2008sep13,0,2617967.story and http://www.madison.com/tct/news/304606.

In the 2004 election cycle, Salon.com kept track of these activites around the country in an effort to stay on top and, hopefully, stop such suppression tactics as soon as possible. Might you not do the same this year?

I am re-posting part of someone else's contribution from another thread, about a week ago. Forgive me, I hadn't saved the poster's name, only the shocking and despicable examples of voter disenfranchisement. Between these maneuvers and even minimal Diebold machinations, unless there is an obvious landslide we could easily have deja vu all over again:

"In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color.

"In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives – overwhelming Black voters.

"In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor.

"In swing states Ohio and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure.

(Air America Radio's Thom Hartmann as transcribed by Greg Palast)

the GOP has hit the bottom they do something like this. I guess we shoulnd't be surprised they would stoop to such levels but I was actually a little shocked.

Now this would make a great campaign ad. Did they go on record anywhere saying anything about this?

This is yet another reason anyone who wants to see Obama in the White House needs to go to People for the American Way and sign up for Election Protection. You'll be sent to a swing state near you to work to make sure people aren't disenfranchised (i.e., minority voters handed flyers telling them that if they have unpaid parking tickets and show up at the polls they will be arrested). I did it in 2004 in AZ and though Bush won the election, it was still better than sitting around wanting to throw things through the TV.

http://www.mypollingplace.com/ep_mission.php

Thanks for the link. I just signed up and I am only a few hours from Michigan. You're right, it beats throwing things at my TV.

Obama/Biden '08

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809140383

A "challenge" to a voter's ballot application does not mean that the voter will be denied a ballot. It does not mean that a voter cannot vote. A "challenge" is a procedure specifically authorized by the Help America Vote Act, which makes it easier to vote, but alos easier to commit vote fraud. Hence, the challenge procedure.

This is some of the most shrill, baseless garbage that that Obama campaign has come up with yet, and that is saying a lot.

On the other hand, we have the apparent modern masters of vote fraud, ACORN...