Kerry forms legal team to fight abuse at polls

Hearst News Service via Houston Chronicle ^ | July 13, 2004, 1:41AM | By STEWART M. POWELL and MARK HELM

[weegee]

July 13, 2004, 1:41AM

Kerry forms legal team to fight abuse at polls By STEWART M. POWELL and MARK HELM Hearst News Service

BOSTON --Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Monday announced creation of a nationwide legal SWAT team of election lawyers to combat the kind of voting irregularities that occurred in Florida four years ago, contributing to the disputed election of President Bush by five electoral votes.

Kerry said his team would take "tough action" to prevent the kind of voter "intimidation and harassment" that kept an estimated 1 million African-American voters from the polls in 2000 and prevented some 57,000 African-American voters from casting votes in Palm Beach County, Fla.

The legal team is led by Washington, D.C., attorney Robert Bauer and backed by teams of lawyers around the nation.

Kerry outlined the election program in an interview with executives of the Hearst Corp., and representatives from the company's television stations, magazines and newspapers -- including the Houston Chronicle. MISCELLANY Sen. John Kerry on other issues:

PRE-ELECTION TRAVEL: John Kerry suggested he may travel overseas before the Nov. 2 election to meet with foreign leaders about their views on U.S.-led operations in Iraq and other international issues.

TRIP TO IRAQ: He declined to rule out a visit to Iraq "at the appropriate time."

NEWS CONFERENCES: He promised to hold monthly news conferences if elected. President Bush has held three during his term.

Kerry said his lawyers would "go after" local election officials who erroneously "purge people" from the rolls of registered voters.

Kerry also expressed concern about some of the new digital voting machines fielded in some states as part of the congressionally backed, multibillion-dollar effort to modernize the election system in the aftermath of the 2000 irregularities.

Separately, Bauer said in an interview that the election teams would work in every state over the next several months, talking with local officials, gathering information on voting procedures and researching possible legal issues that could arise.

"We want to make sure that every eligible voter who votes has that vote counted," he said.

Bauer said the teams will examine a range of issues, including making sure new voting machines work properly, that voters receive adequate education and training on using the machines and that states don't mistakenly leave eligible voters off registration lists.

"We're trying to anticipate problems, so that when an issue comes up it's not a matter of freelancing a solution on the spot but fixing it before it blows up," he said.

Kerry also criticized Bush for building a "flimflam, fraudulent coalition" of nations for the invasion and occupation of Iraq, saying that the United States and Britain bore the burden, the casualties and the costs with only symbolic help from a variety of nations claimed as full coalition partners by the Bush administration.

Kerry said his goal as president would be to get "as many damn countries involved on the ground as possible" in Iraq, in part by sharing reconstruction contracts with participating nations.

Kerry continued to defend his vote in favor of the October 2002 congressional resolution authorizing Bush to go to war in Iraq as a "last resort," despite the findings last week by the Senate Intelligence Committee that the administration had relied on wrong information about Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

If he had been president at the time, Kerry said, he would have "wanted authority to use force so I could get something done but I would have used (the authority) differently" to build an effective international coalition and solicit wider support within the U.N. Security Council to intensify diplomatic, economic and military pressure on Saddam to comply with U.N. weapons inspections.

"My regret is not my vote; my regret is the way the president went about going to war," Kerry said.

"I stick by my vote. I think the president breached faith by the way he used it."

[weegee]

"We want to make sure that every eligible voter who votes has that vote counted," he said.

Including overseas military ballots?

[smonk]

PRE-ELECTION TRAVEL: John Kerry suggested he may travel overseas before the Nov. 2 election to meet with foreign leaders about their views on U.S.-led operations in Iraq and other international issues.

I'm sure he'll come back with a pocket full of endorsements, again.

[swilhelm73]

Kerry forms legal team to fight abuse at polls poll results

There...that's better.

[weegee]

Kerry also criticized Bush for building a "flimflam, fraudulent coalition" of nations for the invasion and occupation of Iraq, saying that the United States and Britain bore the burden, the casualties and the costs with only symbolic help from a variety of nations claimed as full coalition partners by the Bush administration.

How many people from Poland, Australia, etc should have died, Mr. Kerry? Total coalition deaths (accidental, illness, and hostile fire) COMBINED US and partners has just hit 1,000 which is amazingly small for "war".

Meanwhile here is what Mr. Kerry had to say in 1997:

"I don't think anybody can deny that we would have liked it to have threatened force and we would have liked it to carry the term serious consequences will flow. On the other hand, the coalition is together. I mean the fact is there is a unanimous statement by the security council and the United Nations that there has to be immediate, unrestricted, unconditional access to the sites. That's very strong language. And it also references the underlying resolution on which the use of force is based. So clearly the allies may not like it, and I think that's our great concern -- where's the backbone of Russia, where's the backbone of France, where are they in expressing their condemnation of such clearly illegal activity..."

"...there's absolutely no statement that they have made or that they will make that will prevent the United States of America and this president or any president from acting in what they believe are the best interests of our country."

"I think the United States has always reserved the right and will reserve the right to act in its best interests. And clearly it is not just our best interests, it is in the best interests of the world to make it clear to Saddam Hussein that he's not going to get away with a breach of the '91 agreement that he's got to live up to, which is allowing inspections and dismantling his weapons and allowing us to know that he has dismantled his weapons. That's the price he pays for invading Kuwait and starting a war."

[weegee]

Or at least some "walking around" money. I hear that the Chinese Communists have cash for Democrats.

[dandi]

Cynical, posturing @ss.

When Bush wins and if it's close, is this going to be an Election 2000 Redux, with endless lawsuits and demands for recounts nationwide?

Don't worry John-John, maybe we can get those U.N. monitors in there yet and complete the travesty.

[weegee]

Kerry said his goal as president would be to get "as many damn countries involved on the ground as possible" in Iraq, in part by sharing reconstruction contracts with participating nations.

They opposed the effort (and were getting kickbacks from Saddam), why should they share in the gravy now?

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

<sigh>

Are all Dems so hateful and bitter that they are terminally delusional, or is it only Mr. Kerry that is so brainwashed?

[Martins kid]

We need to ask that question over and over.

What is Kerry doing to protect military absentee votes??????

[California Patriot]

In Demworld, black is white, peace is war, tyranny is freedom.

Kerry has no interest whatsoever in a fairly-conducted election. His task force's goal is to defend vote fraud and other illegal voting, pure and simple.

They've already scored quite a coup in Florida, with the spineless Republican "leadership" in that state throwing in the towel on the issue of felons. Unless we make up for this windfall of thousands of Democratic voters with hard precinct work, the election may be decided by criminals.

[TheLion]

This should be fun. This team will find ways to prevent requiring identification, ways to help scam the system and anything else that will help elect democrats.

The DOJ should have them bow out!

[weegee]

It is illegal to buy votes in Texas (and I imagine it is in most states). Here it is a felony.

When will someone ask John Kerry to denounce this tactic from Michael Moore?

Michael Moore advocates buying votes with beer and food(from his "Do Something" suggestions)

[weegee]

Yes, it was an odd ruling that tens of thousands of felons would be permitted to vote since there were relatively few specifically identified as hispanic. Not that the other people weren't felons who would be unjustly barred from voting, just that the list was incomplete.

Here in Texas the issue crops up now and then (when they look at arrest records) since I believe that hispanics are sometimes just listed as black or white.

[wasnova]

This is exactly how Kerry et al. may attempt to steal the election;

with continuous accusations by Kerry's accomplices through (and with) the press - directed at Bush being the thief - Kerry will contest every county that he has a chance of stealing - and all objections will be shouted down as "Bush trying to steal another one"

Very clintonesque, and it could work.

[weegee]

If he had been president at the time, Kerry said, he would have "wanted authority to use force so I could get something done but I would have used (the authority) differently" to build an effective international coalition and solicit wider support within the U.N. Security Council to intensify diplomatic, economic and military pressure on Saddam to comply with U.N. weapons inspections.

In an earlier interview, this was his answer:

According to a CNN transcript, anchor Judy Woodruff asked Kerry, "What exactly -- right now -- would you do differently?"

Kerry: "Right now, what I would do differently is, I mean, look, I'm not the president, and I didn't create this mess so I don't want to acknowledge a mistake that I haven't made. The president needs to step up and acknowledge that there are difficulties and that the world needs to be involved and they need to reverse their policy that countries that were not involved in supporting us are not going to be part of the reconstruction."

[California Patriot]

Yeah, all this racial bean-counting can have really sinister consequences.

Sooner or later, it may mean lots of criminals going free, or not being arrested, because we'll all have to pretend that blacks are no more likely than whites to commit crimes.

There is no end ... none ... to these insane liberal fantasies. Nor is there any end to their insistence on imposing them on society, not matter what the cost. If more people are murdered, so be it. That's how these people "think."

[Nick Danger]

I know I speak for all Americans when I say that it's good to hear that the Democrats will be bringing even more lawyers with them to this year's election. Having our elections decided by courts has long been a goal of the American people, and we applauded when Al Gore's campaign manager said on the night of the 2000 election, "No we're not conceding... this campaign is not over."

Yes, dragging the election into the courts was a true innovation; something Al Gore can finally say he invented. It didn't work out for him, but the principle he established -- that we'll sue and sue to get the votes re-counted in all sorts of funny ways until we win -- is one that restores people's faith in our electoral process.

What could be more fair than having judges re-write the rules on the fly to benefit one candidate or another? The law says "15 days?" So what? Let's find a judge who will overrule the law and make it 30 days because he said so. When that's done we can play "My Supreme Court beats your Supreme Court." That was another inspiring moment that left us all thinking, "How wonderful to watch our votes being batted around like shuttlecocks at the whims of these people in black robes."

Who can be fooled into thinking that "the law" means anything at all when these nine black robes get over-ruled by those nine black robes? You would think that at that level of play, judges would have some basic agreement on what the law is. But noooo. Here we have presumably 18 of the World's Smartest Jurists, and two groups of them are at loggerheads over what the law is. If they can't agree on what it says, how the Hell are ordinary people supposed to have a clue? The message most of us got from that whole exercise is that the law is whatever the highest-ranking black robe says it is. And when that starts deciding elections...

So here's to the Democrats and their lawyer friends, who I'm sure will make this "election" another monument to the insufferable arrogance of lawyers and judges, who now presume to "adjust" our elections after-the-fact.

[Jet Jaguar]

I was in Alaska during the 2000 election. I had a friend (Air Force) who was a Democrat from the Miami area. When he got wind of the Dems trying to throw out the Military absentee ballots he was fuming. I kinda gave him an "I told you so" and we never talked politics again. (I think he turned)

[VisualizeSmallerGovernment]

"I stick by my vote. I think the president breached faith by the way he used it."

Why doesn't Kerry just say that Bush "intimidated and harrassed" him so that he couldn't cast the correct vote?

It's estimated that John Kerry has missed up to 1,000,000 votes in the Senate because of intimidation and harrassment.

[weegee]

Kerry said his team would take "tough action" to prevent the kind of voter "intimidation and harassment" that kept an estimated 1 million African-American voters from the polls in 2000 and prevented some 57,000 African-American voters from casting votes in Palm Beach County, Fla.

This has been documented among the lies in Michael Moore's movie.

Rush was talking about it on the radio today, I believe (the disproven assertion that people were prohibited from going to the polls).

I did not find that among the issues discussed here but this is still relevant:

59 Deceits In Fahrenheit 9/11

Florida Purge of Convicted Felons from Voter Rolls

Deceit 4

According to Fahrenheit, Bush cronies hired Data Base Technologies to purge Florida voters who might vote for Gore, and these potential voters were purged from the voting rolls on the basis of race. ("Second, make sure the chairman of your campaign is also the vote count woman. And that her state has hired a company that's gonna knock voters off the rolls who aren't likely to vote for you. You can usually tell 'em by the color of their skin.") As explained by the Palm Beach Post, Moore's suggestion is extremely incomplete, and on at least one fact, plainly false.

The 1998 mayoral election in Miami was a fiasco which was declared void by Florida courts, because--in violation of Florida law--convicted felons had been allowed to vote. The Florida legislature ordered the executive branch to purge felons from the voting rolls before the next election. Following instructions from Florida officials, Data Base Technologies (DBT) aggressively attempted to identify all convicted felons who were illegally registered to vote in Florida.

There were two major problems with the purge. First, several states allow felons to vote once they have completed their sentences. Some of these ex-felons moved to Florida and were, according to a court decision, eligible to vote. Florida improperly purged these immigrant felons.

Second, the comprehensive effort to identify all convicted felons led to large number of false positives, in which persons with, for example, the same name as a convicted felon, were improperly purged. Purged voters were, in most cases, notified months before the election and given an opportunity to appeal, but the necessity to file an appeal was in itself a barrier which probably discouraged some legitimate, non-felon citizens from voting. According to the Palm Beach Post, at least 1,100 people were improperly purged.

The overbreadth of the purge was well-known in Florida before the election. As a result, election officials in 20 of Florida's counties ignored the purge list entirely. In these counties, convicted felons were allowed to vote. Also according to the Post, thousands of felons were improperly allowed to vote in the 20 non-purging counties. Analysis by Abigail Thernstrom and Russell G. Redenbaugh, dissenting from a report by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, suggests that about 5,600 felons voted illegally in Florida. (The Thernstrom/Redenbaugh dissent explains why little credit should be given to the majority report, which was produced by flagrantly ignoring data.)

When allowed to vote, felons vote approximately 69 percent Democratic, according to a study in the American Sociological Review. Therefore, if the thousands of felons in the non-purging 20 counties had not been illegally allowed to vote, it is likely that Bush's statewide margin would have been substantially larger.

Regardless, Moore's suggestion that the purge was conducted on the basis of race was indisputably false. As the Palm Beach Post details, all the evidence shows that Data Base Technologies did not use race as a basis for the purge. Indeed, DBT's refusal to take note of a registered voter's race was one of the reasons for the many cases of mistaken identity.

DBT's computers had matched these people with felons, though in dozens of cases they did not share the same name, birthdate, gender or race...[A] review of state records, internal e-mails of DBT employees and testimony before the civil rights commission and an elections task force showed no evidence that minorities were specifically targeted. Records show that DBT told the state it would not use race as a criterion to identify felons. The list itself bears that out: More than 1,000 voters were matched with felons though they were of different races.

The appeals record supports the Palm Beach Post's findings. Based on the numbers of successful appeals, blacks were less likely to have been improperly placed on the purge list: of the blacks who were purged, 5.1 percent successfully appealed. Of Hispanics purged, 8.7 percent successfully appealed. Of whites purged, 9.9 percent successfully appealed. John R. Lott, Jr., "Nonvoted Ballots and Discrimination in Florida," Journal of Legal Studies, vol. 32 (Jan. 2003), p. 209. Of course it is theoretically possible that the appeals officials discriminated against blacks, or that improperly purged blacks were not as likely to appeal as were people of other races. But no one has offered any evidence to support such possibilities.

[Moore response: Cites various articles about the felon purge. Offers no evidence to support the claim that voters were targeted on the basis of race.]

[EGPWS]

Kerry said his team would take "tough action" to prevent the kind of voter "intimidation and harassment" that kept an estimated 1 million African-American voters from the polls in 2000 and prevented some 57,000 African-American voters from casting votes in Palm Beach County, Fla.

I respect the man for his nonpartisan efforts to ensure that voting for one and all is free and clear of a politicians agenda...

[Tom_Busch]

The Goebbels party is hard at work.

[California Patriot]

Yeah, and you probably believe everything else Frog says, too.

(By the way, do you know what a "Frog" is?)

[Always Right]

Kerry said his team would take "tough action" to prevent the kind of voter "intimidation and harassment" that kept an estimated 1 million African-American voters from the polls in 2000 and prevented some 57,000 African-American voters from casting votes in Palm Beach County, Fla.

A cop drives within two blocks of a poll location and Democrats flee.....

[weegee]

I consider it "intimidation" of black voters when the Democrats send felons (who cannot vote but can serve as volunteers) around to minority neighborhood homes to "knock and drag". They knock on the door and drag the residents to the polls (in buses and vans).

The knock and drag teams will come by a home upwards of 3 times on election day so you'd better have a good excuse (and nowadays show your electronic ballot "receipt") if they come around. Do you think that they take "no" for an answer?

Besides, come along for the ride and they'll give you a package of cigarettes or some walking around money.

[George W. Bush]

In other news, O.J. has announced he's still searching for Nicole's real killer...

[George W. Bush]

The whole Florida felons issue was confusing and remains so.

The state received complaints that there were thousands of convicted felons voting. Some had moved into the state, having been convicted elsewhere. So they set about purging the rolls, hiring a private company to do the job.

The company promised no racial profiling and said they wouldn't use race or even sex to match up possible felons with voter rolls. So they dumped thousands of legitimate voters with the same names. This was done months before the elections and the dropped voters could appeal their removal from the rolls.

So you had white women being mistaken for black men. Or black women being mistaken for Hispanic men. It was pandemonium!

Then add in that 20 counties decided on their own to just ignore the whole thing and they let everyone on their rolls vote anyway.

We don't spell it 'Floriduh' without some cause.

At any rate, the investigations concluded it wouldn't have made any difference in the outcome of the race.

[smonk]

Let's spin this one around, and see if we can't get some truth out of it.

Kerry forms abuse teams to fight legality at the polls.

[George W. Bush]

Crap, I didn't see your excellent article here until after I typed all that boring explanation of felons. In Floriduh.

My bad.

[BluH2o]

Perhaps the Bush team should counter with observer teams in place like St. Louis (polls stay open late), Detroit (always last to report election results in MI after polls close - waiting 'till they know what's needed to put a 'Rat candidate over the top), Chicago (yeah right), Milwaukee (where the 'Rats hang out near the polls dispensing adult beverages, cigarettes, and god knows what else to buy votes). Various college campus towns, like Marquette, MI, where students vote a half dozen times ... and not for Republicans. Yeah Kerry you "Rat loser ... bring it on!

[garylmoore]

prevented some 57,000 African-American voters from casting votes in Palm Beach County, Fla.


That were all felons.

[garylmoore]

prevented some 57,000 African-American voters from casting votes in Palm Beach County, Fla.


That were all felons.

[wai-ming]

Kerry said his team would take "tough action" to prevent the kind of voter "intimidation and harassment" that kept an estimated 1 million African-American voters from the polls in 2000 and prevented some 57,000 African-American voters from casting votes in Palm Beach County, Fla.

What evidence do they have that this actually occurred?

[DustyMoment]

"Are all Dems so hateful and bitter that they are terminally delusional, or is it only Mr. Kerry that is so brainwashed?"

Yes, they are all terminally delusional and, no, they are not all equally brainwashed as Kerry; some are brainwashed even more, that's why Nader is running. Why else would so many black Americans (among the numbers of sheeple overall) continue to support a party that touts Robert Byrd (D-KKK) as one of its "leading statesmen"?

Good questions. I know they were rhetorical, but they were good questions, nonetheless.

[LibLieSlayer]

"What evidence do they have that this actually occurred"?


NONE! There have been three Federal investigations of this claim, and all have shown NO evidence to back up these charges. Two independent investigations by CNN/NY Times (and another media group) found nothing at all to back up these lies.

They are dims, and lies are what "it's all about"!

LLS

[mombonn]

This creep infuriates me a little more every day. I hope he goes down hard.

[DustyMoment]

The sad truth is that the courts are already altering elections which are supposed to be the voter's voice. In Dallas, in the 80s (I believe), there were two elections held to add more seats to the County Commissioners Court. Several different options were presented to the citizens to choose how they wanted the new seats to be used.

After the election, one plan emerged as the clear choice by the voters, however, a group, comprised primarily of Dems, sued and had the vote overturned. Mind you, a court has rejected the will of the people to do this. So, the same plans were submitted for a new vote and another election held. Lo and behold, the same plan that the voters selected the first time emerged as the clear winner on the second election. Again, the same group filed suit, went to court and had the election results overturned. Again, the will of the majority has been ignored in favor of a minority of people.

So, the plans were submitted to the citizens a THIRD time, this time, though, without the plan the voters had selected the previous two times. The plan that ultimately emerged as the winner was NOT a plan that fairly represented ALL of the citizens in Dallas County but, the minority of Dems who didn't like the other plan were satisfied.

Court involvement and jusicial activism has been a factor in determining election results for quite some time. 200 was just the most high profile example of it and is the reason that conservatives MUST be appointed to the bench if we are going to stop unlawful judicial activism and regain control of our court system. Notice which party has placed major roadblocks before the president to appointing conservative judges.

When Kerry announces that he has assembled a legal team to "fight abuse at polls", you can be assured that it means only one thing - when Kerry loses at the polls if the number is by less that 1 million votes, Kerry and his "legal team" will make the 2000 election look like a peaceful day at the park.

Things are not going well for Kerry as he approaches the convention and the fall campaign could well be no kinder to him. The more desperate he becomes, the nastier and uglier this nasty, ugly fight will become.

[mewzilla]

Gee, wonder if Kerry/Edwards has gotten any donations from these guys and/or their lawfirms?

[Grandma Pam]

You nailed it right there, Nick.

[smonk]

it turns out that the networks probably cost GWB 10,000 votes
or so when they called Florida for Gore at 7:00 eastern time.
The western panhandle of Florida, a.k.a. "South Alabama", is
in the CENTRAL time zone, an hour earlier, and is composed of terrifically strong Bush counties that suddenly had no
reason to vote, since the election in Florida was apparently
over.

Of course, we all know what happened at about 2:00 a.m. the
next morning. But this is the REAL story of the "Stolen
Florida Election".

[Kuksool]

I wouldn't mind if UN officials monitored our elections as long as they intended to be on the look out for voter fraud in the big cities. Fat chance that is.

[EQAndyBuzz]

"In Demworld, black is white, peace is war, tyranny is freedom.

Kerry has no interest whatsoever in a fairly-conducted election. His task force's goal is to defend vote fraud and other illegal voting, pure and simple.

They've already scored quite a coup in Florida, with the spineless Republican "leadership" in that state throwing in the towel on the issue of felons. Unless we make up for this windfall of thousands of Democratic voters with hard precinct work, the election may be decided by criminals."

OK, first off, most of the Jews that voted because of Lieberman are gone. Then you have the military ballots and finally you have the impact of the media not announcing that Kerry already won Florida at 4:00 pm.

The result is a big Bush win in Florida. If these bozos werre smart, they would be focusing on Tennessee. Everything stays the same and Tennessee goes to Kerry, he becomes the next President.

[DoughtyOne]

Wouldn't it just be easier not to pay folks to tamper with the polls in the first place? Perhaps someone should clue sKerry in.

[Thebaddog]

Robert F. Bauer Office Managing Partner Chair, Political law Group

Perkins Coie LLP 607 Fourteenth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005-2011 http://www.perkinscoie.com

Phone: 202.434.1602 Fax: 202.434.1690 Email: rbauer@perkinscoie.com

Areas of Emphasis · Federal/state campaign finance and election laws · Political and business ethics · White-collar crime (official corruption) · Tax-exempt organization law (emphasis on issues advocacy and elections activity) · Lobbying regulation and disclosures · Political broadcast regulation

Selected Representations and Assignments · Co-Counsel to the New Hampshire State Senate in the Trial of Chief Justice David A. Brock (2000) · General Counsel, Bill Bradley for President Committee (1999-2000) · Counsel to the Democratic Leader in the Trial of President William Jefferson Clinton (1999) · Counsel to the Democratic Senatorial and Congressional Campaign Committees · Co-Author, Report of Counsel to the Senate Rules and Administration Committee in the Matter of the United States Senate Seat from Louisiana in the 105th Congress of the United States, (March 27, 1997) · Co-Author, “Campaign Finance Reform,” A Report to the Majority Leader and Minority Leader of the United States Senate (March 6, 1990) · Co-Author, “The Presidential Election Process in the Philippines” (1986), (A bipartisan report prepared at the request of the Chairman and Ranking Member of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations)

This is the guy running the voter fraud generation section of the Kedwards campaign.

[j_tull]

that kept an estimated 1 million African-American voters from the polls in 2000

Not much of an exaggeration, eh? And even if true, more than covered by the vote of those bereft of life.

[lilypad]

How true, I carry an article in the Tampa Tribune posted months ago titled"Law Students Help Freed Felons in Suit To Regain Voting Rights". It states "law students from
Yale, Columbia and NY Universities are in Florida to help some the the states 600000 convicted criminals regain voting rights." eh gads!
I carry a bumper sticker that reads
"Florida Felons for Kerry".

[sweetliberty]

Whenever a RAT says they want to stop abuse at the polls, what they really mean is that they want to prevent legitimate workers from interfering with democRAT voter fraud! I DETEST these people!

[jriemer]

I carry a bumper sticker that reads "Florida Felons for Kerry".

Wouldn't that be the "Florida Felons for F'n' Kerry"

That would make them the FFFK

[exhaustedmomma]

announced creation of a nationwide legal SWAT team of election lawyers

Hmmmmm, his own legal SWAT team. Can we expect Elian scenerios at the polls?

his lawyers would "go after" local election officials

Like when those Republicans in Florida were yelling, "LET US IN?" I am just sure the Kerry goon squad will be looking out for those kind of people.

Kerry also expressed concern about some of the new digital voting machines fielded in some states as part of the congressionally backed, multibillion-dollar effort to modernize the election system in the aftermath of the 2000 irregularities.

Well, Senator SWAT, what did you do to fix it before it hit the polling station? It was your job. Where were you then?