Free Republic

After days of ridicule for launching a conspiracy theory-fueled investigation into Barack Obama’s birth certificate, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett on Tuesday backed off his threat to keep the president off the ballot in November and apologized to his state. “If I embarrassed the state, I apologize, but that certainly wasn’t my intent,” Bennett said in an interview with Phoenix radio station KTAR. “He’ll be on the ballot as long as he fills out the same paperwork and does the same things that everybody else has.” Bennett said he still intends to keep asking Hawaii for verification that Obama’s...

A Hawaii official announced late Tuesday that the state gave Arizona’s top elections official the verification he wanted showing President Barack Obama was indeed born there in 1961. The announcement came just hours after Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett backed away from his threats to keep Obama off the November ballot and apologized for embarrassing his own state with a conspiracy theory-fueled investigation into whether the president was really a natural born U.S. citizen. It also followed weeks of back and forth between Hawaii and Arizona, with Hawaii officials saying they weren’t sure Bennett was qualified to be investigating...

The state of Hawaii has verified President Barack Obama's birth records to Arizona's elections chief after a nearly three-month back and forth that Arizona officials said could have ended without the incumbent's name on its November ballot. Joshua Wisch, special assistant to Hawaii Attorney General David Louie, told The Associated Press late Tuesday that the matter is resolved after Hawaii gave Arizona the verification it was looking for. Arpaio said health officials in Hawaii refused to talk to his deputy and posse investigator on Monday, though an assistant attorney general came out to talk to the investigators. "They won't have...