Arizona Immigration Law: A GOP Game to Swipe the November Election

By GottaLaff

In my previous post, I made the point that the recent outbursts of racism were all about voter intimidation.

Greg Palast agrees, but he says it way better than I did:

What moved GOP Governor Jan Brewer to sign the Soviet-style show-me-your-papers law is the exploding number of legal Hispanics, US citizens all, who are daring to vote -- and daring to vote Democratic by more than two-to-one. Unless this demographic locomotive is halted, Arizona Republicans know their party will soon be electoral toast. Or, if you like, tortillas.

This is not unlike the Republican attitude toward unions.

Hey Greg Palast, tell us something we do not know about Jan Brewer:

Brewer, then Secretary of State, had organized a racially loaded purge of the voter rolls that would have made Katherine Harris blush. Beginning after the 2004 election, under Brewer's command, no less than 100,000 voters, overwhelming Hispanics, were blocked from registering to vote. In 2005, the first year of the Great Brown-Out, one in three Phoenix residents found their registration applications rejected. [...]

Did she turn over even one name to the feds for prosecution?

No, not one.

After over 100 complaints, and a 2 year investigation, the prosecutor, David Iglesias, couldn't find one voter fraud case. Of course, Karl Rove saw to it that he was fired.

But what’s wrong with requiring folks to prove they’re American if the want to vote and live in America? The answer: because the vast majority of perfectly legal voters and residents who lack ID sufficient for Ms. Brewer and Mr. Pearce are citizens of color, citizens of poverty.

According to a study by prof. Matt Barreto, of Washington State University, minority citizens are half as likely as whites to have the government ID. The numbers are dreadfully worse when income is factored in.

Leave it to Palast.

Please go read his entire piece here.

Drudge: Obama encouraging voters to exercise their rights is racist

By GottaLaff

Noted scumbag Matt Drudge adds his fuel to the racist fire. I can see it now: Coming in November 2010 to polls near you: voter intimidation, courtesy of right wing nut jobs everywhere. It's becoming clear that this is what it's coming to.

It's coming down to voter suppression.

Via Greg Sargent:

Drudge’s lead headline right now:

OBAMA PLAYS RACE CARD: RALLIES BLACKS, LATINOS FOR ‘10 UPSET

[...] Here’s the sum total of what Obama said about blacks and Latinos:

“In 2010, it will be up to each of you to make sure that the young people, African Americans, Latinos and women who powered our victory in 2008 stand together once again.”

Paddy posted the video here. It runs two minutes 41 seconds. That sentence was 8 seconds long.

So remember, according to Drudge, if you are in the least bit active in getting the vote out, but address your comments to anybody who isn't lily white, you are a racist.

Huckabee: My remarks madeTerry McAuliffe 'break down and cry'

By GottaLaff

Children, children. Am I going to have to turn this blog around again?

Mike Huckabee shot back at Terry McAuliffe late Thursday after the former DNC chairman and Virginia gubernatorial candidate accused Huckabee of encouraging voter suppression.

"As someone who served as a Governor for 10 years, I can say if these are the type of things Terry McAuliffe worries about and make him break down and cry, then he won't last 10 days as Governor much less 4 years and he doesn't deserve the people of Virginia's vote," Huckabee said in a statement to CNN.

See, Huckee made a joke, and Terry didn't like it. It was mean and nasty and... hit a nerve:

Huckabee cracked that if McDonnell's supporters bump into someone who isn't planning on voting for the Republican, they should "let the air out of their tires and do not let them out of their driveway on election day." [...]

"There are no jokes to be made about denying people the right to vote in this country," McAuliffe said of the remark in a statement. "It's not a laughing matter. This is a right that people fought and died for, so as public figures, we must be sure that we are setting the standard."

That's enough. The two of you will have to find a way to get along, or no more road trips. Huckee, you're grounded. No fried squirrel for a month. Terry, no allowance for you. That oughta hit you where it hurts.

Now behave.

UNcounted votes you won't see on the CNN website

By GottaLaff

Yes we won. But here is one big example of what we've lost:

Ground zero is Georgia. It's here where the sick little vulture named Saxby Chambliss won the US Senate seat six years ago by calling his Democratic opponent, a guy [Max Cleland] who'd lost three limbs in Vietnam, a friend of Osama bin Laden.

There's no way in hell that Chambliss can slime his way back into the Senate in the face of over half a million newly registered voters (Black and young - 69% for Obama) without jacking them out of their votes. That's what the Republicans are up to. Right now. As we speak.

Over 50,000 the new voters in Georgia have been blocked from voting by using a nasty little new law, the Help America Vote Act signed by George Bush. [...]

I just got this from Christina Rush in the Peach Pit state:

"They really have stolen my vote and I don't know what to do about it at this late stage. I just found out 2 days ago that I do not exist on the voters rolls in Georgia. I have disappeared. After calling 866-OUR VOTE and the Secretary of State (for GA), it has been determined that the last vote I was accounted for was the 1996 General Election. That's awfully strange to me, considering that I voted in the recent Primaries and that last two General Elections (2000 and 2004)."

"Everyone is 'very sorry' this is happening, but no one can tell what I can do to make my vote count for THIS election. The only advice I've been given is to fill out a new voters registration form and I'll be eligible for any future elections, just not THIS one."

"So, what can I do except tell anyone and everyone who will listen?"

[...] But here's the good news: it won't save them. The GOP is toast. [...]

But the steal in Senate races may allow the GOP to savage, obstruct, sabotage President Obama's ability to repair the damage of eight years of looting by the unelected junta of the Bush regime. They begin with the theft of the Georgia Senate seat, now heading into a run-off.

* * *

I've been studying the purge of voters and the blockade of new registrants all year with my co-investigator, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Here's what we know is happening: While Obama is brushing his tux for his Inaugural, several million votes are getting disappeared. We're awaiting the count on provisional ballots, those bouncing baloney ballots they give to the purge, The raw data is ill-making. We predicted a six-million vote heist and we're looking grimly accurate. Visit our site, www.GregPalast.com, to get the full report as the numbers come in - the totals of the UNcounted you won't see on the CNN website.

Greg Palast and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. know what they're talking about. When they speak, I listen. I suggest we all pay attention and do whatever we can to prevent this from ever happening again. More here.

Shady Voter Flyers in Philly

So what else it new, voting is only for the privileged.

Philadelphia motorists, beware of dirty tricks

An anonymous flier that has been circulating on windshields across Philadelphia warns voters who have outstanding arrest warrants or unpaid traffic tickets that they may be arrested if they try to vote tomorrow.

The flier, characterized by city officials as being completely false, first hit the streets in early October. The Philadelphia Daily News reported last month that the flier was circulating in black neighborhoods in the North and West parts of the city, historically heavily Democratic areas.

The flier claimed that "there will be undercover officers to execute warrants" inside and outside of polling sites. The author of the flier claimed to learn of the policy at a recent "Rock the Vote" concert.

Turley on early Virginia voting: "One World War II marine veteran with two canes said that he felt he was back in combat. "

By GottaLaff

Here's an indication something's wrong in Virginia. Jonathan Turley's piece is titled, "Virginistan: Problems Begin to Appear with Early Voting in Key State". You don't want to know. Okay, you do, but you won't like it.

We'll start with this preface: "Fairfax County is viewed as Obama’s only hope to win the state. If there is a big turnout in Fairfax, he hopes to overcome the deep red voting patterns in other parts of the state." Now Turley gives us the bad news:

In Virginia, one of the key swing states in the election, it has been well known for months that there would be a likely record turn out. However, early voting problems are being reported across the state. Much like Ohio in 2004, people are reporting what appears to be a knowing failure to properly staff election offices to accommodate the crowds, forcing people to either leave or wait for hours. I personally witnessed the problem this weekend. [...]

It took almost three hours to vote. The reason? The county put in only two telephone lines to clear every early voter. So, thousands of people were funneled into a room where they discovered two overworked volunteers calling a central number for each and every voter. I asked who was responsible for the obvious lack of resources and I was told that it was the county officials who only allowed for two phone lines to be running in the election office. One of the officials rolled her eyes and said that it was obvious from the start that the two lines would not be able to accommodate the expected numbers but the county officials would only approve two lines for the expected thousands of people who would come for early voting. [...]

At best, it is a case of truly moronic planning. At worst, it is willful blindness bordering on voter suppression. I saw dozens of people (including many elderly people) simply leave after an hour. I also saw elderly people struggling to remain standing. We assisted a couple of elderly voters in finding a chair that could be moved with them and held their place in line as it snaked back and forth in a hallway. One World War II marine veteran with two canes said that he felt he was back in combat. [...]

It was like a scene out of some former Soviet republic as thousands waited for antiquated systems to record their votes. However, this was Virginistan. What is equally alarming is that NPR and other new outlets are carrying warnings from election officials for voters to expect very long lines on election day, here and here and here and here. A recent report shows that critical states are unprepared for the expected number of voters on election day. [...]

It appears that officials have once again failed to order sufficient machines or hire sufficient staff to allow people to vote without jeopardizing their work or abandoning their families. [...]

These lines are the result of decision made by officials, who either intentionally or negligently underestimated the resources needed for the election. Since the shortage of machines was reported weeks ago, if not months ago, it hardly seem accidental. My question is where did all that money go if we are still waiting in line for hours and choosing between our jobs and our desire to vote.

There. That should be more than enough to give you nightmares.

H/t: Chris

VIDEO: Obama campaign senior counsel on voting dirty tricks

By GottaLaff

They're on it:



H/t: /Ellen

Voter Purge Rejected in Colorado

By GottaLaff

First Michigan, now Colorado. This is excellent news!

Tens of thousands of Coloradans who had been removed from the state’s voter rolls will be allowed to vote in next week’s election and given extra protections so their ballots are counted, under an agreement reached late Wednesday in federal court here.

The voters’ names had been removed by Mike Coffman, the Colorado secretary of state, who said he did so because the voters had moved out of state or were listed more than once on the rolls. But Mr. Coffman was sued by a coalition of voting rights and other groups who said such purges were generally prohibited by federal law within 90 days of an election.

Provisional ballots? Hmm. I'm having doubts now. The experts don't think much of provisional ballots:

Under the agreement, voters removed from the rolls will be permitted to cast provisional ballots, and those ballots will be counted unless election officials can prove the voters were not eligible. To strike such ballots, county election officials must conduct an extensive records review on each one, a decision that must then be reviewed by Mr. Coffman’s office.

“This is unprecedented,” said Elizabeth Westfall, a lawyer for the Advancement Project, a civil rights group that helped file the lawsuit. “We are really thrilled that there will be this degree of unprecedented scrutiny and protection for these purged voters when they cast their provisional ballots.” [...]

Edward B. Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University and an authority on voting litigation nationwide, said the settlement was noteworthy because many states had put the onus on voters to prove that their provisional ballots were legitimate before they could be counted. The settlement shifts this responsibility to the state, Mr. Foley said, and is more in keeping with the spirit of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002, which calls for election officials to count a provisional ballot if they can determine the voter’s eligibility.

Okay, that's a little better. The main thing is, our side won again.

There is always the nagging problem, however, that some voters will avoid going to the polls, because they've gotten wind of problems like these. I read that over at TPM ("And there's no way to measure the effect that even the unsuccessful ploys have in generating cynicism about the process itself, and thereby reducing turnout, to Republicans' advantage."), and it's one of those little thoughts that keep rolling around what's left of my mind.

But for now, I'm feeling a lot more optimistic than I was only a few days ago.

VIDEO: Greg Palast's "Protecting the Vote"

By GottaLaff


Steal Back Your Vote! from Greg Palast on Vimeo.

Greg Palast is the go-to guy when it comes to information about voter suppression, disenfranchisement, election fraud, voter fraud, you name it.

The video is about 15 minutes. As The Uptake puts it:

One of the best stories we've seen about how the election has and can be manipulated. It comes from Greg Palast of the BBC.

VIDEO: ACORN fights back with "Not This Time"

By GottaLaff



H/t

Poll-itics: Obama leads in Ohio, October 28 edition

By GottaLaff

GObama!

SurveyUSA: Obama Leads in Ohio

A new SurveyUSA poll in Ohio finds Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain, 49% to 45%.

The two are tied at 47% each among voters who have not yet cast a ballot. However, among those who have already voted, Obama leads by 13 points.

UPDATE on this post about Virginia liar-fliers:

Someone in Comments yesterday asked if that story would make it on to the news. I'm happy to say it did. Daivd Shuster reported about it on MSNBC. I had the sound off, but the chyron came up.

Phony flier message tells Virginia Democrats to vote on November 5

By GottaLaff

This is all the Republicans have left. As usual, they're resorting to vile, underhanded, lying, fraudulent attempts at voter suppression. But, hey, I'm not "worried".

By the way, everyone votes (no later than) November 4th, should there be anyone out there that might be confused by tricks like this:

The Virginia Pilot reports today that a phony Virginia Board of Elections flier is being distributed in Hamption Roads, VA telling Democrats that they are now scheduled to vote on November 5. The flier falsely claims that “an emergency session of the General Assembly” adopted a new voting schedule to “ease the load” at polling places on election day.

Court ruling: Thousands of flagged voters can vote in Georgia

By GottaLaff

Great news! My favorite kind of story. Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel is a Republican and is not happy. Tsk, tsk, tsk:

Georgia must allow thousands of people whose citizenship was questioned by the state's new voter verification system to vote in the upcoming election, a panel of federal judges ruled Monday.

The court ruling will affect about 4,500 people in Georgia who had been "flagged" by the new voter verification system and faced being denied a chance to vote Nov. 4 because their citizenship was questioned.

It could also affect more than 50,000 other registered Georgia voters also flagged by the new system because of mismatches in their personal identification information, such as discrepancies in addresses. [...]

The issue was raised in a lawsuit filed on behalf of a Georgia college student who claimed that the secretary of state's voter verification system violated the Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act and caused an illegal purge of voters in the weeks before the election.

Federal law prohibits widespread voter purges within 90 days of the election. In Georgia, that has become a heated issue with some calling the purge "voter suppression."

Handel, a Republican who began working on purging voter rolls from the time of her election in 2006, said the act of verifying voters is not voter suppression.

I hope there are more happy endings like this one. So far, we've done well with these court cases. Too bad Bush is sticking his nose into one of them... Ohio no less. Big surprise.

Party Lawyers Ready to Keep an Eye on the Polls

By GottaLaff

If there's nothing to "worry" about, I doubt if both teams would have lawyers everywhere (apparently, "worry" has become a buzz word here, but I'm using it as a catch-all; so, ahem, no worries... snerk!). Seriously, it's good to know they're on top of it:

With heavy voter turnout expected on Election Day, both parties are amassing thousands and thousands of lawyers to keep an eye on the polls.

Senator Barack Obama’s campaign is expected to send at least 5,000 lawyers to Florida alone. The first recruitment e-mail message the campaign sent out nationally received 6,000 responses from lawyers willing to volunteer. Meanwhile, Senator John McCain’s campaign has lined up “Lawyers for McCain” to spread out at polling places in closely contested states as advocates for the ticket.

Both campaigns plan to use the lawyers to protect their supporters at the polls, help untangle ballot problems and run to court should litigation be necessary. [...]

The role of lawyers, especially at polling places, has grown since the 2000 election. For the Obama campaign, the recruitment of lawyers began the moment it set up field offices and is part of its long-term strategy to make voting easier.

Already, lawyers for Mr. Obama have been talking to county election officials and boards of election to increase the number of early voting sites, to encourage early voting and to make sure that there will be sufficient number of voting machines.

“We have a selective, but ferocious legal strategy,” said Jenny Backus, a spokeswoman for the Obama campaign’s legal program. “Rather than waiting for Election Day, we’ve had lawyers working from the beginning. We’ve used them for a massive voter education program, so that people know their rights and what to do on Election Day.”

This comes on top of an effort the Democratic National Committee began after the 2000 election. The committee set up a National Lawyers Council to work on ballot issues, established a voter protection hot line and surveyed 1,300 state and local election officials to flag potential Election Day problems in advance.

So far, over 10,000 lawyers have signed up over the committee’s Web site. [...]

“Lawyers have always written checks,” Mr. Kessler said. “Now we are taking it to the next level in assuring that there will be no issues on Election Day. We are learning from the last two elections and we now have the credo ‘Never again.’ If we lose, we lose. But we don’t want it because of something that took place in the polling place.” [...]

All volunteers must undergo a training session either in person or online with the Obama campaign.

“We’re going to have lawyers at the polls and in close proximity to the court houses,” Mr. Johnson said. As an example, he said lawyers could be helpful in keeping the polls open when lines became extremely long.

The McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee declined to say how many lawyers they had enlisted. Sean Cairncross, the committee’s chief counsel, said: “We will have enough lawyers to respond to any contingency...”

Mr. Cairncross said Republican lawyers would be on the lookout for voter fraud, and would work to halt such previous stunts as having busloads of voters show up to keep polls open beyond their statutory closing time. [...]

Democrats say their lawyers have already had an impact. In Montana, a federal judge upheld a Democratic challenge to a Republican attempt to purge 6,000 voters from the rolls. And in Detroit, a court settlement was reached over allegations that Republicans were going to use home foreclosure lists to challenge voters.

Vigilance.

Colorado's Katherine Harris threatens the '08 Election

By GottaLaff

David Sirota just scared me:

The story on the left describes [Secretary of State Mike] Coffman's efforts to invalidate roughly 5,000 registrations (depending on which source you ask). Here's the crux of what's going on:

"5,000 Coloradans whose voter status is in limbo because of [a] controversial check box...The registration form asks for a driver's license or state ID number. If applicants don't have that, they're supposed to check a box and then put down at least the last four digits of their Social Security numbers. But thousands of people didn't check the box. According to a policy adopted last year by Secretary of State Mike Coffman, these applications are supposed to be listed as incomplete...National and local voting-rights organizations criticize Coffman's policy, saying it violates other federal laws. They say Coffman is unfairly putting up barriers for people who are eligible to vote and want him to change his policy."

The check box is "controversial" because you are asked to check it on the form if you don't "have" a driver's license or ID card. Here's what it looks like on the form (which you can download and see yourself here):

So, here's the thing - what's the definition of "have?" I may have one at my house or in my car, but not with me at the very moment I am filling out the registration form. [...]

And yet, if you made any of those logical choices - if you gave all the social security information required by law, but simply didn't check the box - Coffman is attempting to use that choice to potentially invalidate your registration and prevent you from voting.

[...] Thus, it isn't surprising that the Rocky Mountain News notes that "the largest number [of registrations affected by Coffman's edict] are Democrats, followed closely by unaffiliated voters," and "hundreds live in predominately minority neighborhoods in Denver and Aurora" (ie. traditionally Democratic constituencies).

Remember, Coffman is an up-and-coming Republican "star" - he's simultaneously Secretary of State and running to replace Colorado U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R). So he's not some nonpartisan election observer - as I said before, he's positioning himself to be Katherine Harris, who also went on to use her notoriety as an election thief to win a seat in Congress.

[...] But what we're seeing here in Colorado is a very public attempt to use Republican-controlled offices to potentially disenfranchise thousands and rig the election. Indeed, the Denver Post now reports that Coffman has asked his fellow Republican crony, state Attorney General John Suthers (R), to validate his moves with an official legal opinion so as to trip up potential pre- and post-election legal challenges to the disenfranchisement. This isn't a conspiracy theory - it's happening all right out in the open for everyone to see.

It all adds up to the kind of coordinated Republican scheme we've seen in the last two elections. And once again, that scheme could throw a national election.

Wisconsin judge throws out voter ID lawsuit

By GottaLaff

First Ohio, now Wisconsin. Maybe the Republicans should take a hint: Elections should be fair. Voter suppression is so 2004:

A judge on Thursday threw out a lawsuit by Wisconsin's attorney general demanding that state elections officials confirm hundreds of thousands of voters' identities before election day.

Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi ruled that neither federal nor state law makes the checks that Atty. Gen. J.B. Van Hollen seeks a condition for voting. She said Van Hollen had no standing to sue and should have made a complaint to the state Government Accountability Board rather than going to court.

Van Hollen spokesman Kevin St. John said the state Department of Justice would appeal, perhaps directly to the state Supreme Court. The agency will continue to pursue the case beyond election day if it must because an accurate list of registered voters is crucial to future elections, he said.

Van Hollen, a Republican and co-chairman of GOP presidential candidate John McCain's Wisconsin campaign, argued that the federal Help America Vote Act requires the accountability board to check the names of everyone registered to vote since Jan. 1, 2006, against driver's license and Social Security data and remove any ineligible voters from the rolls. [...]

Sumi said only the U.S. attorney general could bring a court order to enforce the federal voting act.

A similar case in Ohio resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court's rebuffing Ohio Republicans' efforts to force Ohio's election overseer -- a Democrat -- to give local election boards lists of 200,000 voters whose names didn't match other databases.

Rebuffed at every turn.

Federal Lawsuit Finally Filed Against PA to Demand Emergency Paper Ballots for Voters

By GottaLaff

Yes! Via The Brad Blog:

Finally! A lawsuit [PDF] has finally been filed today in federal District Court in Pennsylvania, against the Democratic Secretary of the Commonwealth, Pedro A. Cortes and the Commissioner of the state's Election Commission, Chet Harhut, over Cortes' recent decree that paper ballots only need be given out to voters in the event that every voting machine in a precinct breaks down.

That stunning decry was in opposition to PA's state law which allows election officials the discretion to give emergency paper ballots to voters if even a single machine breaks down in a precinct.

That neither Obama nor the DNC have said a word about this in the month or so since Cortes issued his decry has been maddening, and should be an outrage to voters of all parties in the Keystone State, sure to be another battleground state this November. The lawsuit was finally filed today by the state's NAACP in concert with the 866-MYVOTE1 Election Reform Network. [...]

[U]nfortunately, the suit calls very conservatively for emergency paper ballots to be given out if 50% or more of the voting machines in a precinct break down. But at least it's something...

I can't imagine why the Obama team (and the DNC) haven't done more. That part mystifies me. Especially in light of this (the quote is from their website):

"The Obama campaign has worked with the Democratic Party to build the most comprehensive voter protection program ever put in place. Volunteers and campaign staffers across the country are working to protect your rights on Election Day. We are testing voting systems, examining ballot designs, pushing to reduce lines, and expanding opportunities for early and absentee voting.

We have also been carefully monitoring the voter rolls — we are watching to make sure new registrants get on the rolls, and stay there."

If they win Pennsylvania, they win. So why aren't they more aggressive there? More here.

FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver on the Bradley Effect:

By GottaLaff

Nate is wise. Very wise. We lerve Nate:

The Bradley effect emerges when voters tell pollsters one thing and then do another at the ballot booth. [...] My conclusion?

With so many "X factors" like race, cell phones and turnout, there is probably an extra margin of error this year. And polls aren't terrifically accurate to begin with. But there is no reason to conclude that the polls are systematically overestimating Obama's support; the reverse is at least as likely to be true. McCain, in all likelihood, will need to win this election fair and square—which means that he has his work cut out for him.

::stifling giggle:: Did Nate just say Gramm-pa will have to win fair and square? Actually, that's not funny at all. In fact, that is my biggest concern. The good news is that finally, the media are reporting a lot of election glitch news. It's out there in plain sight, and it's out there early.

The better news: Obama is all over this.

If voters turn out, double and triple check the results on the machines after they vote, report any problems, stand up for their rights, and refuse to allow election fraud this year, we'll pull off a resounding victory.

Rachel & RFK Jr: "How To Make Sure Your Vote Gets Counted!"

McCain Employing GOP Operative Accused Of Voter Registration Fraud

By GottaLaff

"I'm rubber, you're glue Anything you say bounces off me and sticks to you!" So there:

John McCain's campaign has directed $175,000 to the firm of a Republican operative accused of massive voter registration fraud in several states.

According to campaign finance records, a joint committee of the McCain-Palin campaign, the RNC and the the California Republican Party, made a $175,000 payment to the group Lincoln Strategy in June for purposes of "registering voters." The managing partner of that firm is Nathan Sproul, a renowned GOP operative who has been investigated on multiple occasions for suppressing Democratic voter turnout, throwing away registration forms and even spearheading efforts to get Ralph Nader on ballots to hinder the Democratic ticket.

In a letter to the Justice Department last October, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said that that Sproul's alleged activities "clearly suppress votes and violate the law."

That Sproul would come under the employment umbrella of the McCain campaign -- the Republican National Committee has also separately paid Lincoln Strategy at least $37,000 for voter registration efforts this cycle -- is not terribly surprising. Sproul, who has donated nearly $30,000 to McCain's campaign, has been in the good graces of GOP officials for the past decade despite charges of ethical and potentially legal wrongdoing.

But his involvement with the Republican Party's voter registration efforts has the potential to create a political and public relations headache at a time when McCain can ill-afford one. For weeks the Arizona Republican and his allies have been seeking to tie Barack Obama to the community organization ACORN, which they have accused of potentially committing massive voter registration fraud. Sproul's contract with the GOP ticket -- in addition to news of Republican officials attempting to suppress Democratic turnout in California -- raises, for some, questions about McCain's own efforts.

"It should certainly take away from McCain's argument," said Bob Grossfeld, a progressive political consultant based in Arizona who has followed Sproul's career.

People in glass houses... Pot. Kettle. Black. I'm sure there are a few more sayings that would apply here.

H/t: thekingfiphtin