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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Will they be checking for out-of-state IDs at the caucuses? The major presidential campaigns are flooding the state with hundreds of field staffers, and there's at least some concern that those operatives could show up for the Jan. 3 precinct caucuses and distort the outcome of the opening test of the presidential nominating season. Spokesmen for the leading campaigns reject that suggestion, saying there are strict rules banning operatives brought into the state from actually participating in caucuses. They note that the number of operatives potentially involved is far too small to have an impact...

As the fundraising quarter draws to a close at midnight tonight, candidates are scrambling to boost their numbers by any means necessary (we've received two fundraising pitches signed by candidates with the subject line "Hey," and one from a spouse headed "Re: Hey"). And while he's gotten little attention outside his fervent and fanatic fan base, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who finished the second quarter with more cash on hand than Sen. John McCain, could have another surprise in store for the media establishment his supporters so often malign. In the run-up to the filing deadline, Paul's supporters were asked...

I've been reading letters from the military to Harry Reid from Michelle Malkins blog. I wonder if this is the representation the people of NV hought they would be getting. Can he be recalled a la Grayout Davis? (exerpt of comment below) I have a message for Senator Harry Reid, a message from the past that is heard in the wailing and groaning of our founders turning in their graves: “Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, ‘What should be the reward of such sacrifices?’ Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, and...

Arizona voters will have to present identification at the polls on Nov. 7 after all. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that Arizona can go ahead with requiring voters to present a photo ID, starting with next month's general election, as part of the Proposition 200 that voters passed in 2004. The ruling overturns an Oct. 5 decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which put the voter ID rules on hold this election cycle. The Supreme Court on Friday did not decide whether the new voter ID rules are constitutional. That decision is still pending in federal district...

ANNAPOLIS (AP) -- The number of Marylanders requesting absentee ballots already exceeds the number of absentee votes cast in the last gubernatorial election, and requests are still coming in at a rapid rate, with three weeks left until the Nov. 7 general election. A law that took effect this year removed all restrictions on the use of absentee ballots, which previously were available only to voters who could not make it to the polls on Election Day.

A federal appeals court blocked an Arizona state law requiring voters to present identification at polling stations and proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an emergency motion by opponents of the law for an injunction to prevent the law's voter identification requirements from taking effect for the November 7 elections. Opponents of the Arizona law said it discriminated against minorities and the poor, who might not have funds to obtain the necessary proof of identification. “The law sets a burdensome requirement,” Victor Meiser, attorney for the plaintiffs. “To get a driver’s...

Giving Congress up to September 21 to stop the invasion of Iraq, Reverend Lennox Yearwood, CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus of Washington D.C., and Church of God and Christ minister, plans to lead a press conference in front of the White House to protest the war in Iraq on Thursday (Sept. 21). Yearwood, citing a moral obligation, says that he, along with 270 cities and 350 organizations nationwide, will no longer be passive observers of Bush's War on Terror. "We are in a time of peril in which people of morals have to stand up. We are willing to...

Yesterday the Baldwinsville Public Library held it's annual budget vote. First off, why do these even take place at such odd times when no one remembers or cares to vote, except the friends of the library? My question is this. With a sign posted noting that a polling place was established and no electioneering or loitering within 100 yds was to be permitted, I noticed that a table with baked goods and manned by little old ladies aka "Friends of the Library" was set up within 10 yds of the polls. Isn't that a violation? By the way, my beef,...

SACRAMENTO - Hamstrung by funding and staff shortages, California's political watchdog agency is dropping about 225 cases and instead is sending warning or advisory letters to some candidates or officials accused of violating election or ethics laws. "We have to prioritize cases," John Appelbaum, head of the Fair Political Practices Commission's enforcement division, said Tuesday. "If we don't have the resources, they may get closed." The enforcement division currently has 23 members, down from a high of nearly 33 in 1997. Overall, the FPPC has lost about 30 staff positions - a third of its work force - since 1991....

...[T]he Supreme Court agreed to hear campaign-finance and tax cases whose outcome could hinge on the candidate filling the court's second vacancy.... Campaign-finance cases have revealed a philosophical split on the court, with more conservative justices, such as Antonin Scalia, considering political expenditures the functional equivalent of speech, and thus beyond state restriction. More liberal justices, such as Stephen Breyer, have viewed such regulations as lawful means to fight political corruption and keep moneyed interests from drowning out other voices. One of the political cases challenges a provision of the McCain-Feingold law that prohibits corporations from direct expenditures on electioneering...

Two arrest warrants were issued Wednesday alleging election fraud by two voter-registration workers employed last year to sign up new voters. According to warrants filed by the Milwaukee County district attorney's office, Urelene Lilly, 48, and Marcus L. Lewis, 23, both admitted to authorities that they filled out multiple voter-registration cards using fictitious information to earn money from Project Vote, which paid workers such as them $40 per day plus $1.75 for each registration above the daily quota of 24 new voters.... Lilly and Lewis were charged with five felonies each: three counts of forgery, one count of election fraud...

[In using the link, go to "ACLU Watch" and then to "The 'Lawyers, Guns and Money' Cases" This is a unitary website, so the URL cannot go directly to this article.] Election Day Lawsuits None of the cases discussed this month are likely to arrive on the bench of the US Supreme Court. Nonetheless, when taken as a group these cases represent a direction in the use of lawyers and litigation to influence the results of elections. As such, they represent a negative development in American elections that may be of great interest to the readers of these Updates. The...

This is nothing but a vanity guys, but I was just wondering... Well, are cameras allowed in the voting centers where you live (in your county, state, whatever)? I just got back from doing my civic duty for Pres. Bush, Mobile congressman Jo Bonner, and Sen Richard Shelby, and I was quite surprised to find out from the poll workers at my voting center that my camera wasn't allowed INSIDE the voting center due to state law. Weird, but true. I've heard from other people I know that this law is far from common in some other states, and that...

Swing State Daily UpdateOctober 30, 2004 Please note: We will conduct today (Saturday) our 3pm telephone briefing for media; tomorrow (Sunday), we will post to our website our 2pm Swing State Daily Update, but there will be no 3pm telephone briefing; on Monday, we will conduct our 3pm briefing from our Election Law Center at WOSU studios, as well as posting our usual 2pm Update. OhioWith all the legal developments, it is important to keep focused on two main issues: (1) in-precinct challenges to voter eligibility on November 2; and (2) potential disputes after 11/2 concerning whether provisional ballots should...

Fabiola Armitage is back on television, only instead of a campaign ad the focus has been on her mugshot. Armitage is a Kerry supporter and a strong believer in stem cell research. She's featured in an advertisement urging Floridians to vote against Amendment 3 on this year's ballot. The amendment would cap how much money a lawyer can make from a medical malpractice lawsuit. St. Johns County Sheriff Deputies arrested Armitage for grand theft and battery this week. They say she had 78 campaign signs supporting George Bush and Mel Martinez in her trunk. Armitage tells First Coast News that...

Yesterday, I drove by the welfare department in Bakersfield, California to see if anyone was registering voters there (as sometimes is the case). Sure enough, there was a democrat voter registration table. Now, hold your fire on the location. In all fairness, we Republicans have sometimes registered voters at the welfare office, though with probably far less of a natural constituency. Anyways, I parked, walked up, and listened to a woman I will refer to as "Rat-lady" as she attempted to register voters. A woman I will refer to as Maisha came over to the table to register to vote....

Erin Feehan-Nelson, running for mayor of this St. Croix River town, has a campaign slogan that's hard to dispute: "Uncorrupted by years of experience." The reason? She's 17. ....state law says candidates must be eligible voters and at least 21 years old when they take office. "I doubt the judge would be able to say no to the popular vote," she said. "The people's right to choose prevails over (state law)."

Once again, CBS continues to carry water for the Kerry Campaign - even going so far as to "partner" with a Soros-funded 527 designed to push polls for John Kerry. MTV's "CHOOSE OR LOSE" - ROCK THE VOTE 2004 - Poll Gives Kerry Big Lead Among Voters Under 30 09.21.2004 11:53 AM EDT Younger voters think the country is heading in the wrong direction and that President Bush does not share their priorities, but they like Bush personally and are unsure about John Kerry. Overall, Kerry has a substantial lead among voters under thirty, a reversal of the Bush's nine-point...

Judge Orders Nader off Florida ballot The Associated Press Updated: 3:08 p.m. ET Sept. 15, 2004 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Ralph Nader is again off Florida’s presidential ballot, at least for now. Circuit Judge P. Kevin Davey on Wednesday ordered that Nader’s name be removed from the November ballot, finding that the Reform Party — which nominated Nader — isn’t a legitimate party under state law. Davey also ordered that four counties that have already mailed absentee ballots listing Nader send out amended ballots without his name. Davey had issued a temporary order last week keeping the consumer advocate off the...

The Federal Election Commission leadership is "corrupt" and should resign for refusing to regulate political groups that are spending millions of dollars to attack both presidential candidates, Sen. John McCain said yesterday. [snip]Retired Adm. Roy Hoffman, founder of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and Mr. Kerry's former commander, also told Time that his group will run the ads until the election, despite condemnation from Republicans and Democrats. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has raised $2.5 million on its Web site since the original advertising buy of $500,000. Anti-Bush groups such as America Coming Together, MoveOn.org and the Media...

The $50 million Dems The real VIPs in the fight to oust George W. Bush won’t be on the FleetCenter stage next week. They’re the wealthy funders of progressive ‘527’ groups. BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN ONE YEAR AGO, conventional political wisdom held that the Democratic presidential nominee would be in trouble right now. After spending all his cash in a tough primary battle, the thinking went, the candidate would have to spend April through June scrambling to raise money for the general campaign. In the meantime, Bush’s team would be free to use that three-month window to define the Democrats’...

I BELIEVE THAT THIS IS THE RELEVANT STATUTE, 18 U.S.C. 793 (f), governing Berger's behavior: Sec. 793. - Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information (f) Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information, relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, or (2) having knowledge that the...

Why did Sandy Berger smuggle highly classified documents past security guards? Perhaps this will shed some light.

The following excerpt was transcribed by me from my videotape of the 5 minute segment on Fox News Channel this morning entitled, "Bracing For Battle". The segment began at 9:44 AM and ended at 9:49 AM Eastern. Guests: Richard Goodstein, Democrat strategist and former advisor to the 2000 Gore/Lieberman Campaign Ben Ginsberg, Election law expert, and national counsel for the Bush/Cheney 2004 Campaign. (He was also counsel to Bush/Cheney during the 2000 election re-count) Bottom line excerpt: Ben Ginsberg: "The essential point is, did Sandy Berger, who is one of John Kerry's top advisors, get those documents - those classified...

TORONTO - An Ontario university student is urging Elections Canada to charge American filmmaker Michael Moore over comments he made during the recent federal election campaign. While promoting his movie in Toronto days before the election, Moore weighed in on the issue of who should lead Canada. He urged Canadians to reject the Conservatives and its leader, Stephen Harper. Viewpoint: Michael Moore doesn't belong in Canada Moore was in Canada to promote his latest film, Fahrenheit 9/11, which questions U.S. President George W. Bush's actions during the Sept. 11 attacks. Kasra Nejatian, a member of the Ontario Campus Conservatives and...

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...

According to some Democratic lawmakers, you aren't capable of voting this year without a United Nations monitor making sure you get it right. Nine prominent Democrats, elected members of the House of Representatives, have sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, begging him to send UN monitors to oversee the 2004 election. Florida representative Eddie Bernice Johnson led the latest effort to subvert the sovereignty of the United States and place us under the control of the increasingly-corrupt United Nations. Let me get this straight. A group of Democrats want to bring some people from countries like North Korea,...

One Man, Two Registrations Michael Moore simultaneously on voter rolls in New York, Michigan JUNE 28--Prior to last week's Washington, D.C. premiere of "Fahrenheit 9/11," Michael Moore denied that the new film represents his de facto endorsement of John Kerry. "I am an Independent," the filmmaker told reporters. "I'm not a member of the Democratic party." Which is not exactly correct. New York City Board of Elections records show that Moore, 50, registered to vote in Gotham in 1992, checking off "Democratic" as his party affiliation (below you'll find a copy of his original registration form). He listed his address...

[snip]Our concern is with another aspect of Moore's movie: It's basically a two-hour attack ad on President Bush. "I hope this country will be back in our hands in a very short period of time," Moore says. That is, he hopes that his movie will make John Kerry president. Moore certainly has the right to pursue such a goal as he pleases. America prizes freedom of speech, Exhibit A being all the tendentiously conspiratorial — and just plain stupid — movies that Michael Moore has churned out over the years. But should this unapologetically partisan piece of "art" count as...

Why am I running for governor of Texas in 2006? Why the hell not? I already have several good campaign slogans, starting with "How hard could it be?" Compared with the daunting financial crunch that Arnold Schwarzenegger inherited when he became governor of California, being governor of Texas is a notoriously easy gig. It's rather like being the judge of a giant chili cook-off. Consider that in the past a series of wealthy Texas oilmen have ascended to the office, some of them rarely bothering to leave their ranches to go to Austin unless there was a football game. And...

In April, Zack Exley was named director of Internet organizing for presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, making him the Democrat's point man on the cyber front in the battle for voters. His background: the operator of a satirical website called GWBush.com and the subject of a federal complaint filed by lawyers for George Bush, according to a report in the LA Times. Exley’s GWBush.com site in 1999 featured doctored photos of then-Governor Bush with cocaine residue under his nose. Exley also posted fake campaign statements under such headlines as "George II: Restoring the Throne to its Rightful...

Documentary film-maker Michael Moore won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Fahrenheit 911, not because the awards jury wanted to endorse his politics, but because it was "the best film at the festival" according to festival jurist Quentin Tarantino. Never mind that Moore immediately said he hoped his film "would affect the outcome of the 2004 election." We are still supposed to believe that the film was judged on its artistic merits, and nothing else. Add this to some other remarkable facts that we are supposed to believe about the "non-partisan" nature of other efforts to enlighten...

The year was 1961. The fledgling Beatles couldn't settle on a bass player, President John F. Kennedy was famously asking what you could do for your country, and Vietnam was just a tiny country in muggy Southeast Asia. Somewhere in the halls of St. Paul's School, in secluded Concord, New Hampshire, a couple of teenage guys with the garage-rock ethos found in so many other suburban towns decided to start a band. No, this is not a rock-and-roll success story complete with screaming girls and chart-topping hits — quite the opposite. It's about a band of prep-schoolers who pressed 500...

Choose or Lose: 20 Million Questions for John Kerry Special MTV - Music Television Airing Time: Tue 3/30, 10:30PM (30 minutes) Categories: News, Special, News/Public Affairs, Special/Other Future airings of Choose or Lose: John Kerry Special: • Wed 3/31 11:00 AM MTV - Music Television Wed 3/31 8:30 PM  MTV - Music Television (Satellite) Fri 4/2 12:30 AM  MTV - Music Television (Satellite) And airing other times. Kerry gets 30 minutes to tell his lies to the youth of America. I wonder if they will also give President Bush his own "Choose or Lose" Special?

By now I'm sure you've heard of www.democraticunderground.com ... a website where your Democrat neighbors can go to trade ideas and thoughts about this year's election. One of our alert listeners lifted a few postings on this website that I thought you might enjoy. Here, my friends, are your loving, compassionate Democratic neighbors at work. Why don't we all sit back and let them chose our next president ... waddaya say? Here's the first post: As we've heard again and again recently, if we are going to beat this bunch of rule breaking GOP misanthropes, we're going to have to...

A lot of lefties site this page. Though they say non-partisan, it seems to spend more time attacking Bush. I looked for a search engine for their page to type in "Heinz" to no avail. "The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization, was founded by Charles Lewis following a successful 11-year career in network television news."

<p>Federal election officials proposed new rules Thursday that could sharply curb the activities of private political groups intent on influencing this year's presidential election.</p> <p>Although the action by the Federal Election Commission is not final, it drew objections from non-profit groups allied with Democrats who fear that continuing legal uncertainty will dampen their fundraising.</p>

A Democratic-leaning online group will run television commercials in 17 presidential battleground states starting Thursday to counter President Bush's multimillion-dollar advertising blitz that will begin the same day. The MoveOn.org Voter Fund has been airing commercials assailing Bush for months in several swing states, but this $1.9 million, five-day effort will be its most far-reaching. The ads will ensure that there is a Democratic presence on the TV airwaves in key states as Bush begins to make his case for re-election.

RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie Statement on MoveOn.Org Ad Buy 3/2/04 6:05:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk, Political Reporter Contact: Christine Iverson of the Republican National Committee, 202-863-8614 WASHINGTON, March 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a statement by Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Ed Gillespie: "A month ago I noted that Democrats seemed intent on running one of the dirtiest campaigns in modern presidential politics, and I cited a litany of early examples of disturbing tactics." "It appears we can now add to that list a willingness to blatantly violate the new campaign finance laws." "According to the Associated...

Feb. 9 issue - John Kerry needed cash, and soon. In July 1996 the Massachusetts senator was locked in a tough re-election fight, so he was more than happy to help when he heard that a generous potential contributor wanted to visit his Capitol Hill office. The donor was Johnny Chung, a glad-handing Taiwanese-American entrepreneur. Chung brought along some friends, including a Hong Kong businesswoman named Liu Chaoying. Told that Liu was interested in getting one of her companies listed on the U.S. Stock Exchange, Kerry's aides immediately faxed over a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The next...

Rock The Vote, a movement begun by the late Patrick Lippert, will honor The Dixie Chicks for "their enduring commitment to preserving and protecting freedom of expression" this February 7th in Hollywood. Following the controversy that surrounded them last March, the Dixie Chicks partnered with Rock the Vote in July 2003 and launched Chicks Rock, Chicks Vote, an initiative to engage and empower young women to become active in the political process by voting. Sheryl Crow will join N*E*R*D and the Black Eyed Peas as performers at the show, which will be held at the world famous Hollywood Palladium. Rock...

(You will need a browser with Japanese font capability, and ability to comprehend written Japanese) As a FReeper Researcher, I have just come across a JAPANESE organization, based on an overseas JAPANESE website, in JAPANESE, that is encouraging foreigners to contribute money to and assist the "Campaign for American President Dennis Kucinich".The URL of the activity was located at:http://www.peace2001.org/ The organization is called "Global Peace Campaign" located in Japan. It is part of an umbrella of socialist and communist organizations opposing US efforts in Iraq, it supports North Korea, and is aligned with the usual communist movements.The website has...

CAMPAIGN CASH RACE TURNS INTERNATIONAL; MOVEON.ORG CENTER OF INTRIGUE; CLARK SEEKS CANADIAN SUPPORT, WEBSITE SHOWS Frustrated with the lack of domestic support, left-leaning website moveon.org has apparently been reaching beyond American borders to generate cash revenue over the Internet! The provocative international fundraising strategy threatens to embroil the presidential candidacy of General Wesley Clark and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. Both men are named on international fundraising websites suggesting donations to moveon.org... Moveon.org, which has been running ads critical of the Bush Administration, has named an "International Campaigns Director." It is not clear how much money has been raised from...

Former Bank of America executive seeks millions CHARLOTTE, N.C. --Bank of America Corp. on Wednesday denied allegations of financial wrongdoing by a former executive who claims he was dismissed for whistleblowing on questionable practices at the bank. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that former Bank of America executive Duncan Goldie-Morrison is seeking $7.3 million plus damages. The paper said Goldie-Morrison filed claims Tuesday with the National Association of Securities Dealers, which handles disputes in the securities industry. Goldie-Morrison also accused Bank of America of inappropriately ordering executives to make charitable and political contributions, the paper reported. Goldie-Morrison was...

Service Employees International Union's political committee and three New York City union groups have agreed to pay $262,000 in penalties for campaign finance violations, including improper record-keeping. The civil penalties, announced Wednesday by the Federal Election Commission, involve violations from 1998 to 2000. SEIU's political campaign committee, known as COPE, paid $75,000 in penalties last December. Under an agreement reached with the FEC last month, New York's Health and Human Service Union 1199, Local 1199 Federal Political Action Fund and 1199 SEIU Federal Political Action Fund shared an additional $187,000 in fines. Among the violations, the FEC found that in...

The Kremlin has introduced a draconian election law which threatens the media with closure if they give details of candidates' personal lives or analyse their policies. The new law aims to stem the "black PR" and slurs which marred past elections. But it has infuriated opposition MPs and journalists. Some said it represented a return to the Soviet era control of political debate. The decree, signed by President Vladimir Putin, places a blanket ban during campaigning on forecasting results and requires candidates to be given equal coverage - a practical impossibility because there are 44 parties. A media outlet can...

Even before the Sept. 11 attacks and the crackdown that followed, American Muslim leaders generally had come to believe they had made a mistake. In 2000, they made their first unified endorsement in a presidential race, backing George W. Bush. Many thought he would take a harder line against Israel, and, based on statements he made while campaigning, would protect the rights of immigrants facing deportation. Muslims say they were disappointed on both counts. Now, feeling the additional sting of being scrutinized in the domestic hunt for terrorists, they are mobilizing to express their anger at the polls in 2004....

No, this isn't a cheap shot based on breakfast cereal, about folks in California being ''fruits and nuts.'' Instead, it is a discussion of the mechanics of the recall election in that state. The media hasn't picked up this story yet, but process of any election has an impact on its results. This is especially true for this election there. Policy wonks in Ph.D. programs, which I was until a few years ago, study such things as the effect of ballot placement on the number of votes received. It has been solidly established that if names are listed in alphabetical...

Court strikes staggering blow to free speech TACOMA—In a stunning blow to teachers and other union workers, Washington’s Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the state law prohibiting unauthorized use of non-member union fees for politics is unconstitutional. The case was on appeal after the Washington Education Association (WEA) was sued by the state Attorney General (AG) and found guilty in July 2001 of willfully violating RCW 42.17.760, which prohibits the union from using fees taken from non-member teachers to advance political causes without permission from those teachers. The WEA was ordered to pay $570,000 dollars in fines and penalties...

reported 15:38 bloomberg news