All this hand-wringing over the national poll numbers is misplaced. Watch the swing state numbers, and especially, watch Ohio.
Like every other junkie, I’ve been checking 538 every day, but I noticed something for the first time yesterday: based on their models, McSame has less than a 1% chance of winning the election without winning Ohio.
That’s right — it’s practically impossible for McSame to lose Ohio and win the election.
Why?
The simple fact is, there’s just not that many big red states. If you put Ohio in the blue column, McSame has to pull an upset in Michigan, where he currently trails by 7 while simultaneously holding Obama off in Virginia (where he’s down 1), Nevada (up 2), Montana (down 3) and Colorado (down 2).
Failing that, he’d have to cobble together a whole series of upsets, like New Mexico (where he’s down 5), Minnesota (down 7) and Iowa (down 5). But even then, that would also mean that McSame would have to win just about every state where Obama’s pushing him — states like Colorado, Nevada, Montana, North Dakota, Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida.
There’s a handy electoral college map simulator here. See for yourself.
The whole thing’s going to come down to Ohio, again. It’s a big union state that gave Bush the election by about 100,000 votes in 2004. Rove’s secret weapon that year was a same-sex marriage ban initiative which helped drive social conservative turnout, and tipped the scales to Bush and the GOP.
Ohio had serious buyer’s remorse, because in 2006, they promptly kicked out every major Republican office holder in the state and elected a Democratic governor and senator.
Latest polls show Obama with a 2-point lead. If you live in Ohio, you know what to do.
Related posts:
- Online Health Care Townhalls Sunday at FDL: Ohio Democratic Senate Candidates
- Please Welcome Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, Candidate for US Senate
- Blue Dog-Targeted Ad Campaign Doesn’t Target Blue Dogs
- Please Welcome Ohio Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher, Candidate for US Senate
- Findlay, Ohio, Chamber of Commerce Kills Parade Because Unions Backed It
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not to mention a few shady machines and some hacking
Please Ohio, Please! You have punished the rest of the Country enough with the 2004 debacle. Wasn’t there a GOP Gov. Strickland involved with some shenanigans in the 04 election?
whatever do you mean? /s
Still, the polls this year lack something. If they are phone polls, how do they reach the young people who are not connected by landline at all. Also, if they contact ‘likely voters’ how often do then contact anyone under the age of 30. What about the hundreds of thousands of newly registered voters? Do the pollsters expect them to vote? Do they count them?
Let’s just make sure that there are plenty of voting machines in the densely populated areas of the state. Unlike the GOP…we do not have to cheat to win…just make it fair and the outcome will be favorable to the Dems.
The latest Electoral Votes map I saw, which had Obama barely losing now, assumed McInsane would win VA, FL and OH. If Obama wins just one of those, and that doesn’t have to be OH, Obama wins according to current polls, at least that was my understanding of it. Of course, Obama’s up in two of those states right now, and the last FL poll I saw had him down only one in FL, it’s quite possible Obama might win all three.
Certainly have our work cut out for us still, but we’re sitting pretty good I’m thinking.
Good news or bad news? Ohio has certainly shown itself to be vulnerable to outright election fraud, so, I’m worried.
More than a few shady machines. Now that the dust is settled, we know that the “conspiracy theories” were correct. The Diebold (now Premier) machines systematically lost votes:
http://voices.washingtonpost.c…..ained.html
or as a nerdly cartoon, if you’d prefer: http://xkcd.com/463/
and that the poll workers rigged the recount:
http://slashdot.org/~MarkusQ/journal/160328
to hide that fact. So Occam says Ohio was rigged, plan and simple. Any other explanation at this point would require more than just hang wringing and cries of “oh posh, no one would stoop to that!”
–MarkusQ
Some of the polling companies are claiming that they’ve taken care of the cell phone issue. Not sure how accurate that is, but apparently most are taking this into account now before releasing numbers.
Shouldn’t Biden help with that? I understand unions like him.
Great post, btw, BT!
And another thing–they also played very obvious games with the distribution of the machines.
If it takes a finite amount of time to vote (call it vote_time) and there is a finite amount of time to vote in (call it polls_open_time) then at most each voting station can record polls_open_time/vote_time votes.
If you limit the number of functional machines given to certain precincts (which they did) you can cap the number of votes that those precincts can return. This effect alone was enough to sway the election.
–MarkusQ, still pissed about Ohio
This from TPM:
Markus – I just got back from vacation but I remember a story just before I left in July about how the Ohio State Attorney General was asking for protection for some guy involved in the vote caging because Rove was threatening him and his wife? Am I right about that? What has happened to that story? Anyone know?
I grew up in Ohio and know the state pretty well. Obama has a tough row to hoe there. Lots of low info and simply racist voters there. Obama can win but will take take many campaign stops, huge turnout and massive ad buys.
You and me both. In fact, I was in a state of rage for a couple years after the election theft of 2004 – the election theft and thundering silence of the media, or at most, ridicule directed at anyone who questioned the countless examples of fraud, rigging, lying, cheating and manipulating that went on. Sickening.
We need a no-holds-barred election day blitz in Ohio. We need international election monitors, lawyers ready at precincts in low-income areas, and DNC commitment to challenge anything but a win in Ohio, particularly if the exit poll results deviate beyond the standard from the results.
The corporate Right stole the election in Florida in 2000 and the DNC did nothing.
The corporate Right stole the election in Ohio in 2004 and the DNC did nohting.
There’s no reason to believe that the corporate Right won’t try to steal the election in Ohio again this year. The DNC needs to commit to taking the results to court.
We have to stop pretending the media is anything more than the propaganda branch of the corporate Right. We have to stop pretending that the vote tallies are accurate. We have to stop pretending that things are okay except for a little glitch here and there. Things are not okay, democracy is being undermined, the corporations have seized control of government, and the Bush Administration could implement martial law or a coup at their discretion. We need to stop pretending things are just fine, and be prepared to fight these corrupt practices in court.
As an Ohioan, may i please be permitted to say one little thing?
WHOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh, and
YEE-HAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Right. Obama can still lose OH and win, but the easiest way for him to win is to win OH and put McSame away.
Do you think Ohio will go blue this time?
As is often the case with the Obama campaign, they have an exciting activity happening under the radar and spending a lot of money at the grassroots level. They’re actively addressing some of the things that happened the last couple of elections. From their “Lawyer Needed” announcement:
http://my.barackobama.com/page…..ote/gG5zcL
Hopefully they’re working on the electronic voting issue especially, but regardless, I feel much more confident in the vote integrity this time around than the last couple. Hopefully, it’ll be such a blowout it won’t effect the outcome this time.
SF Chronicle:
Mittens? hell yes.
If Obama, after the Convention but before the Election, would announce that he plans to make Dick Lugar his SecState (which I think he is going to do anyway), he’ll carry Indiana.
Obama’s team is acutely aware of the importance of Ohio. In early May, in a conversation with Obama’s legal team, they were talking about Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland as a Veep choice. I was very disappointed when Strickland made his Sherman Statement.
According to Wiki, Ted Strickland is a Democrat. He was recently elected, because Wiki shows that Republic Governor Bob Taft’s term ran from 1999-2007.
wake up. that’s a nightmare, not real.
Strickland’s a Dem, honey, and a breath of fresh air.
Crooked SecyState Blackwell – resigned in disgrace.
Cockeyed CEO of Die*old – resigned in disgrace.
FINE, PROGRESSIVE SENATOR SHERROD BROWN serving just as he promised in the U. S. of A. Senate and making us proud!
Go stick your head under a pillow till it’s over.
We’ll send word when it’s safe to emerge from your cuckoonegativity-spasm.
Agreed.
And we need a citizen army, in groups of two and three, at EVERY polling place with video.
Here’s the story
http://thejournal.epluribusmed…..on-lawyers
Wasn’t there a GOP Gov. Strickland involved with some shenanigans in the 04 election?
Not that I’m aware of. I’ve only heard about the perfidy of Kenneth Blackwell, who was then simultaneously the Ohio SecState and Chief Elections Official of Ohio and honorary co-chair of the “Committee to re-elect George W. Bush” during the 2004 election.
Lugar. Could live with that, and man, that does seem like a good idea to say that during the campaign, especially if they might be doing it anyway.
or name Richardson as SoS for the New Mexico vote.
I am not sure why the polls are put on some sort of pedestal as though they have more integrity than the MSM from whom they receive their livelihood. There are the questions themselves as well as “demonstrator effects” which can be as innocuous as the voice inflection of questioners.
And now that Ken Blackwell is gone (and the GOP is not in state wide office anymore), I predict that, as long as the youth of Ohio does not feel disenfranchised after what happened in 2004, Ohio will not be even close in 2008.
What about this issue: Ohio’s Election Stolen Again? State May Face 600K Voter Purge in Coming Weeks?
Advancement Project anent the Republican voted Ohio law allowing election officials to challenge voter eligibility on election day.
Ohio will not be even close in 2008.
I *really* hope you mean that in a positive way…. *g*
Read this diary at dailykos by nyeve. She has the formula for winning in Ohio!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/…..017/574615
Here’s the story that wins Obama Ohio and the election!
Good read. Makes good sense!
Why would Lugar accept such a designation prior to the election. Even if he did he would take so much heat from Repubs that he could reverse course and screw things up for Dems. Kind of like the congressman that McCain claimed was a mentor despite barely knowing except that this would receive a media firestorm
electoral map:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I…..ge_Map.PNG
IIRC, Greg Palast’s Armed Madhouse had some really terrifying stories about election fraud in New Mexico in 2004, and noted that that system for stealing the vote in N.M. is still in place.
That being said, Obama does need some help in the west, imo.
IIRC, no Republican ever won the Presidency without carrying Ohio.
Thanks for that. Seem to remember the Toledo Blade doing some other great investigations in recent years. Don’t need the biggest budget to do good work.
Why would Lugar accept such a designation prior to the election. Even if he did he would take so much heat from Repubs…
Trust me, Secretary of State is the thing that Dick Lugar has wanted his entire life. His area is almost solely foreign Policy – he just (unfortunately) mails in his votes on all other issues, and has never stepped on any Repub toes.
Plus, his seat in Indiana is so rock-solid that the D’s here don’t even bother putting up a candidate against him – at least not a candidate with any chance or party support.
No one knows anything for certain in this cockeyed world.
I’m the last one to be making predictions like that, because that’s not how I “work”.
But the people I run into, accidentally on purpose, heh, and get to asking me questions and tell me how they feel – these people are overwhelmingly angry at the crooked deal they think went down in 2004.
They feel Ohioans were robbed.
I can’t prove it, but I think they’re right. I’m convinced Ohio was “stolen” through a combination of things: inaccessible polling places, lack of workable machines, seemingly deliberate under-staffing/lack of trained staff/too few machines in precincts known to be heavily Democratic, “lost” absentee ballots… You name it, it happened all over the state. Some people stood in line all night, and they still were denied a chance to vote. Many, for fear of losing their jobs, couldn’t afford to stand in line for hours, so thereby were disenfranchised. Some found their names were purged from the list of registered voters because of “mistakes” associated with actions taken by companies to which the task of purging was outsourced – companies apparently with political ties.
Sorry no links readily available from me, but I doubt it’d be hard to find out more by checking info gathered by a number of ongoing efforts to expose election fraud. all anyone need do is google a bit.
I try to spread a contagious feeling that everyone MUST vote, and fight to see that their vote is counted. I help quite a few iron out little problems that have confused or turned them away from the polls in the past. Many others are working also in the state in a much more organized fashion than the crazy style that works for me.
“… Rove’s secret weapon that year was a same-sex marriage ban initiative which helped drive social conservative turnout, and tipped the scales to Bush and the GOP.
Ohio had serious buyer’s remorse, because in 2006, they promptly kicked out every major Republican office holder in the state and elected a Democratic governor and senator.”
I hate to beat a dead horse, but …
Your story is the dominant narrative about what happened in Ohio in 2004. It has the virtue of explaining events within the parameters of the legitimate functioning of the country’s democratic electoral system and, so, is reassuring. I do not think, however, that it accurately reflects what happened in the 2004 national election.
As certainly as Barry Bonds’ home run record deserves an ‘*,’ do does George Bush’s win in Ohio. I don’t think there’s any non-partisan expert who would argue that Ken Blackwell played as large, or a larger role, in the 2004 Ohio Republican victory than Katherine Harris played in Florida in 2000. The election was rife with enough irregularities that its certification was objected to in both the Congress and the Senate.
No one, at this point in time, questions that Richard Daley’s machine was instrumental in delivering Chicago, and so Illinois, to Kennedy in 1960. While it’s likely that corruption in northern Illinois just barely compensated for Republican corruption downstate, at least the narrative is accurate.
Accuracy, I think, is a greater virtue and provides a much more economical explanation for Ohio voters apparent 2006 reversal of sympathies. More than that, from what I know from friends from Ohio, outrage at the corruption of the 2004 election was more of a stimulus to the 2006 election results than any kind of “buyer’s remorse.”
Be that as it may, it suggests that, with the control of state government in Democratic hands, a Republican victory in Ohio this year is unlikely.
The rethug caging effort will be abetted by the current housing fiasco. More people moving out of foreclosed/underwater homes.
Lugar already isn’t very popular with the Limpballz wing of the Repube party. Lugar was praising Biden as VP just the other day and complimenting Obama’s judgement, which undercuts a McInsane talking point:
http://lugar.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=302283&
Not sure, but Lugar has to worry much about getting re-elected. Accepting an offer from Obama to be SoS doesn’t seem like something that would be the end of Lugar’s career if he had to run again for the Senate.
So Lugar could parle a Obama statement into guarantees from both sides.
Bless yer heart! Me too.
I think many many people who definitely plan to vote in Nov. are, at this point, avoiding being polled. They’re sick of it. They’re angry at the MSM and the constant ringing of robo calls.
The only vote that counts: Nov.
Mark Halperin was talking up Ayres bigtime on ABC’s Sunday This Week with GS. He was trying to sell it as a reactive move to Obama’s “negativity: but it sounds like he got wind of the ad campaign and was trying to make it look like he was being prescient. Being a hack doesn’t mean he can’t self-promote.
having a Lugar in the cabinet would silence the phony “Obama wants to take away your guns” meme.
Thanks Adie, for your efforts to combat election fraud in Ohio. Kudos to Ohio’n’s for throwing out that crook, Blackwell, and electing Sherrod Brown.
Ohio was the most egregious example of election theft, on many, many fronts in 2004, but, at jayt pointed out in mentioning New Mexico, Ohio was not alone. The GOP will work to rig any election that is within a few points, so heads up, everyone.
no guarantees, but… we’re workin’ on it…
;->
Actually, for McCain it’s all about vote rigging, and the “Swiftboating of Exit Polls.”
The ONLY way for McCain to win is to steal it the old fashioned way, with Diebold, AND to have so diminished the credibility of Exit Polls by election night, that they can explain away a 6 point swing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2…..exit_polls
Watch for the talking heads to start undermining Exit Polling as a valid check against election fraud.
I don’t get why having a conservative like Lugar at State would help either the country or the Democrats.
having a Lugar in the cabinet would silence the phony “Obama wants to take away your guns” meme.
Lugar is not at all the foreign policy hawk that he was earlier in his career, if that is at all what you’re driving at.
My point is that Obama has said all along that he would have a Republican (singular – or plural?) in his Cabinet, and that this seems like an intelligent choice for one of them….
I agree that this will probably come down to Ohio- and that whoever wins Ohio will probably win the election. Obama may have had Ohio in view in picking Biden- a catholic with a working class background and a down to earth manner as a running mate.
This things going to be a donnybrook- there WILL be cheating- probably on both sides and there will be no extra points for complaining about it.
Obama comes from Illinois and is undoubtedly familiar with the sewer that runs underneath US elections. Let’s hope he has the crew to wade through the sewer and prevail…
His expenditures on “the ground game” certainly have this in view.
i propose everyone feel an obligation to become involved, even if it’s just to speak up when someone says an outlandish untruth, or to check to see if a neighbor needs a ride to the polls, or to vote absentee if you’re not sure you’ll be free on election day.
a whole country full of simple ideas, carried through to action…
could give a whole new meaning to the word “terrah” *g*
I hear he’s a real pistol :~)
Well, if you’re going to be throwing around names for a Sec’y of State, why wouldn’t Hillary Clinton be a good choice? Or for that matter, with our problems within the DOJ, why wouldn’t she be a good choice for AG? Or did that comment I heard the other day about how Obama would need her in the Senate mean he will not find any place for her in his cabinet at all? And if so, is that wise?
Another possible choice for Sec’y of State: Colin Powell? We all know he’s a good soldier that does whatever he’s told. Of course, if GWB had accepted his counsel, we would have gone done a whole different path with our foreign policy. A much better course, I would say.
I recall after doing some investigation RFK Jr. concluded there was evidence suggesting the 2004 election results in Ohio might have been rigged. I think with the tide against them Republicans are even more likely to cheat in this election. Particularly in the presidential race, if it is as close (granted it shouldn’t be, just saying) as the last two, a little nudge in one or two pivotal districts could change the outcome.
Hopefully, a lot of would-be Republican voters will sit this one out and Obama will win by such a large margin it won’t matter if the other side tries to cheat.
So no question that Ohio is where the wingers will be attempting to steal the election through voter intimidation, lack of machines and electronic manchines that “malfunction”.
Who is going to be watching the vote in Ohio? Can we get the UN to watch? Can we get the Obama-Biden campaign to agree to investigate irregularities at election time instead of sweeping them under the rug?
Sure they will cheat- but having a dem governor, secy of state, and attorney general must certainly diminish their options for it….
Dems cheat too- so maybe they can reduce the gooper cheating advantage..
Maybe it’s Lugar but Richardson is making a speech on Wednesday re foreign policy and diplomacy at Obama’s request. Makes me speculate re SOS.
As we learned in Florida, much of the damage occurs PRIOR to the election as people are removed from the voting rolls….NOW is the time for dems to get a handle on what’s being done in THAT area..
I don’t get why having a conservative like Lugar at State would help either the country or the Democrats.
Electorally, it turns Indiana blue.
And I think it would make it harder for the Repub slime machine to question Obama’s “judgment” if he were to pick a long-time Repub Senator as a member of his Cabinet. The R machine would be tripping over its tongue trying to attack that one.
And he’s qualified.
Maybe a CHuck Hagel at DOD
i don’t know about you, but i’m talking about acting honestly and pro-actively, so we don’t HAVE to complain after the fact.
p.s., does one of those companies that purged voter rolls in the past, amid mucho scandal and error, still have ties to Sen. Hagel? are they still in the business of doing it again? (if i’m off base, set me straight, please)
Arrgh! Colin Powell has lost all credibility with me. He attended the principals meetings where Zubaydah’s torture was mapped out in detail and he twiddled his thumbs. Then he went out and sold the Administration’s fake excuses for war with Iraq.
I have the same problem with Lugar. The Iraq war, the MCA, the FISA Amendments Act, he was a good Republican and backed them all.
Does anyone know what the topic of Bill Clinton’s speech will be and did I hear right that he was unhappy with the topic he was asked to speak on?
That’s not a bad idea….
Hillary as Sec’y of State might help ameliorate the hard feelings of her supporters and recapture a lot of those votes.
Don’t forget who’s in charge in Ohio now…The Republican vote-stealing machine is gone. Ted Strickland and Jennifer Brunner run the show now. All the republicans have is the PR machine there. They’re going to need backup.
I read that he was unhappy. I am so appalled at how the Clinton’s have behaved. They seem to think that they are in charge of the convention. She ran, she lost, game over. Enough already.
True, I have lost a considerable amount of esteem for General Powell. I am also extremely curious as to what the rift is between the Obama camp and General Wes Clark that Obama would go so far as to tell him to stay home because there is no role for him at the convention. Anyone have any insight of substance on that?
Hey, the young people are not the only ones without landlines. Paying two phone bills is something a whole lot of people have stricken from their budgets. I think the polling is way off. Which are people forfeiting, the landlines or the cells?
salon.com
My local gooper newspaper spent it’s editorial space today blasting the Clinton’s. McBush is spending his advertising budget on the Clintons…
Seems as if the goopers have a strong interest in lighting a fire under the Clinton issue…
I don’t doubt you, but I also admit to being largely clueless to Lugar’s policy preferences.
Would you be willing to list some of your reasons? I can easily understand some of the misgivings having an avowed conservative in charge of social policy making within this country, but how do you see it applying to State?
Like many pundits, Mark Halperin draws a conclusion first and then looks for facts that seem to support it. Unfortunately for Mark, he’s had his head tucked up his crevasse for so long that he can no longer fabricate an argument that is remotely plausible. In addition, during the past couple years he has been actively courting the wingnut demo, perhaps because of their lower credibility threshold.
agreed. a real disappointment. i still have a hard time understanding why a person like that, with his background and seeming integrity (up until recent years), simply turned to mush. WHY!?!
I’ve read some pretty careful analysis on this subject.
The pollsters are aware of the problem and are oversampling the demographic groups most likely to be cell phone only…
This practice removes some, but not all of the error.
Most seem to think that the residual error rate is relatively small however- perhaps a point.
It is smarter for Obama supporters to err on the side of UNDERESTIMATING his advantage rather than OVERESTIMATING it…
Remember to that we are in the middle of the “bounce wars”
It’s better for a candidate to go into the convention polling on the low side to allow more room for bounce- so the low numbers now could be advantageous for Obama in a week.
I think it’s more him than her, but I’m also appalled by it all. What really gets me is that Bill Clinton certainly would not have tolerated all this crap that they have put out if they had won the primary. I doubt that they consulted with Carter about his experience in choosing a running mate or much of anything else. I don’t think Carter insinuated himself into things that were not his to meddle in as the Clintons have either. They are just terrible losers. Still, she’d probably make a good AG, and what a stroke of Schaudenfreude if, after being so badly persecuted by the “vast right wing conspiracy,” she gains access to all the secrets of the prior administration and gets to make the decisions of which crimes to pursue into the courts! Strange how the wheels of justice turn!
had another agenda, eh? well…. *grabs tissue
for impending sneeze*
It is a pity that when Clinton retired his political instincts retired with him.
At this point, does anybody think that anything could make Bill Clinton happy short of he and his wife back in the WH?
smarter eh? no kidding. wheeeeeeeeee. hey ma! am TOO!?!
I always admired Colin Powell until he veered off course. Now I don’t want him any where near the Obama administration.
Sorry Hugh. Missed your #67. That’s plenty reasons. Still, he might act differently in vastly different circumstances of State rather than herd mentality of Senate.
The key phrase in the above statement is “seeming integrity.” Powell is more comfortable telling partial truth than outright lies, which set him apart (slightly) from the other Bushies. He is, however, a consummate team player who won’t buck the chain of command, even when the people in charge are arrogant, morally bankrupt, treacherous, cretins.
yes… before, during, ever after……
would that the C’s could see that and file it appropriately.
seems it’ll always be a predictable burr under the saddle.
I believe the problem is more Bill than Hillary. I wish he would be content to be the elder statesman. He would be a wonderful goodwill ambassador for our country and he is so smart politically.
sad… just sad…
Rush Holt has this:
ego trumps smarts every time with some unfortunate souls.
Link to one discussion of the cell phone polling issue (scroll WAY down)
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com…..cellphones
Lugar’s principal accomplishment was the effort wih Sam Nunn to secure Russia’s nukes and plutonium stocks. He was also unhappy about Bush’s Iraq war strategy and backed the Establishment consensus Iraq Study Group report. But here’s the thing, I do not recall a single instance where he bucked the Republican leadership or the Bush Administration on anything. And let’s remember this is the most criminal and incompetent Administration in our history. I blame Democrats for their lack of backbone. But Republicans, like Lugar, were even worse. Chuck Hagel at least, did speak out against the war, and no, I don’t support him either.
OT – from Ian’s Twitter feed:
A couple years back I was talking to a woman who told me that she planned to send her daughter to a private non-secular school because the local public high school taught students how to use condoms by unrolling them on bananas. She said, “I just don’t think that’s necessary.”
“Certainly not every time you eat a banana,” I replied.
Oh that’s GOOD!
Well, in Bill’s case, it wasn’t just his ego but his mini-me as well.
My badd for mixing up Strickland with Blackwell. Sorry to everyone who got spun up!
If you go to Greg Palast’s website, he has current information what is happening in New Mexico AND ELSEWHERE!
http://www.gregpalast.com/
Hey. No harm. OH and FL are used to that by now. We just tweak the dialog and go our merry way. ;->
thanks!
late to this thread and haven’t read the comments but I must post;
but without us being pro-active insuring all voters get to vote and all precincts have ACCURATE machines, AND there is a paper trail, then mcccain WILL win ohio
we have laid back allowing these machines to still be in place, allowing their caging and their tactics to continue
ohio will not be ours unless we are pro-active and even then they might have the system gamed too much
remember, voting officials are for the most part, republican appointees
FIRE IN THE LAKE REDUX
Here in Ohio, McCain is running a nasty TV ad that accuses Obama of being friends with a former Weather Underground member. The person in question apparently lives in Chicago near Obama, and the Republican Party decided to resurrect insinuations made by Sen. Clinton during the primary campaign.
Maybe my memory is faulty, but I recall that a couple Weather operatives blew themselves up with their own bomb. The McCain attack ad claims that Obama has a longstanding friendship with people “who blew up the US Capitol.” But, isn’t the Capitol still there?
Obviously, Ohio is important to McCain. There are no Obama ads here as invidious and paranoid as this recent attack ad from the Republicans.
John McCain has said that he has never been able to forgive a fellow prisoner of war for lying on tape for the North Vietnamese in exchange for better treatment. Yet nearly 40 years later McCain is willing to place lies before the camera in exchange for votes.
McCain responds to what the Vietnamese might call “fire in the lake” with paranoia-mongering and rewritten history. I’m voting for Obama.
dcsouthpaw
So Lugar could parle a Obama statement into guarantees from both sides.
And there in a nutshell you start to see why it is ILLEGAL for a candidate to offer appointed positions to people before the election. Sure, we have lots of fun speculating about cabinet positions. But the reason Obama hasn’t announced his preferences for those cabinet positions, and won’t before the election, is that it’s illegal and he knows it.