GOP Officials Plotting To Rig Race For Mississippi Senate Seat?
This seems like a big deal: Is the GOP trying to confuse voters and rig the election against the Democratic candidate in a hotly-contested race for a plum Senate seat?
It seems that way to quite a few people in Mississippi -- because the candidates for this election have now been placed in obscurity at the very bottom of the physical ballot that voters will see on Election Day.
In a move that could very well bring on a lawsuit, the state elections board -- controlled by the GOP -- today put the special election for Senate underneath even races for county offices and school boards. This was despite the fact that state law seems to clearly require placing federal races at the top of the ballot.
Placing a race like this at the bottom of the ballot could cause many lower-information voters to overlook it. Democrats feel this decision will disproportionately affect poorer voters who tend to vote Democratic, and furthermore that this was the whole point.
A statement from Democratic candidate Ronnie Musgrove implied that a lawsuit could be on the way. "We will win this election no matter where the Secretary of State puts it on the ballot," said Musgrove's campaign manager. "But this is about the law and they don't get to make up their own laws."
How sad. How typical.
September 9, 2008 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll be really interested to see the Presidential results on Nov. 4th from Mississippi. There's alot of bad kharma that still hangs around there...
September 9, 2008 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Republicans are great.
September 9, 2008 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, it's dirty and it's not fair... but it's what works dammit. I am so tired of Democrats being such pussies about this stuff. Instead of bitching about fairness, do something to the Rs! Same thing with the presidential campaign -- instead of whining about McSame's lies, hit him with something hard (marital infidelity anyone?).
September 9, 2008 3:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
So you are advocating "dirty and not fair"?
Good luck with that...
I think we can win w/o that, thankyouverymuch.
September 9, 2008 3:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's clear that's how Obama is going to have it.
September 9, 2008 3:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm advocating not bringing a knife to a gun fight. I'm advocating a hit-first-ask-questions-later approach for the rest of this campaign. I'm advocating the banishment of nuance for the rest of this campaign. I'm advocating that the Ds do something that makes the GooGoos at the NYT editorial desk and on NPR uncomfortable but which helps us win. I'm advocating that we Swift-Boat one of their candidates as vengence for ours.
If you're uncomfortable with this stuff, you're in the wrong game.
September 9, 2008 4:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Completely typical. Can't win on issues, can't win by the rules, so just cheat the hell out of the system, what do I care? Raptiure's comin!
The whole Assembly of God using Alaska as a "refuge state" during the "end times" should scare any mainstream voter away from this pair.
The answer has got to be NO.
September 9, 2008 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Republicans rig elections? No way! Stop by and leave your Sarah Palin lies in the comments, I'm trying to get a top 100 list going. Should take about a day.
September 9, 2008 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Placing a race like this at the bottom of the ballot could cause many lower-information voters to overlook it. Democrats feel this decision will disproportionately affect poorer voters who tend to vote Democratic, and furthermore that this was the whole point."
Come on now, you can't have it both ways....either we're the stupid ones or y'all are.
September 9, 2008 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm trying to figure out exactly how one tells one has a "low-information voter" from Mississippi. I mean, what are the criteria?
September 9, 2008 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
In this election: Voting Repulican.
September 9, 2008 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
All joking aside, those who vote Democratic tend to follow a U-shape distribution with respect to education. I.e., those who have dropped out of high school and those with an advanced degree are both more likely to vote Democratic. Those with only a high school or Bachelor's degree are more likely to vote Republican—thus proving the old adage that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing! ;)
September 9, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
You should pick of the Biden statement he made regarding stem cells. The McCainiacs are not happy.
http://thepage.time.com/
September 9, 2008 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Halperin is so far up McCain's ass he could tell us what McCain had for breakfast this morning.
September 9, 2008 3:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lower information voters...tell it like it is...you mean it's not fair because the dumbasses won't realize that it's at the bottom and a Democrat can't win in Mississippi without the Dumbass vote! Priceless!!!
September 9, 2008 3:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
i don't see how intelligence has anything to do with whether or not voters choose to not vote on every item on the ballot.
September 9, 2008 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why would disenfranchising "low-information" voters be a benefit to Republicans?
September 9, 2008 3:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
not showing a lot of confidence in Wicker...
September 9, 2008 3:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kos has this too, with reactions from other papers.
http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/9/131445/2949/653/592276
September 9, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Apparently . . . The RNC caging op is short on cash for postage.
It is good to see that a DEM is considering to fight for himself and the American people . . . Although the lawsuit shoulda already been filed and the Press Releases about REP malfeasence should block out the sun.
September 9, 2008 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Republican Party is little more than a criminal organization masquerading as a political party.
September 9, 2008 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
The two look eerily alike.
Republicans must be hoping all those stupid black folks can't tell the difference between them and end up voting for Wicker.
September 9, 2008 3:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
OT: In an interview with CNN, Right Wing fundie Nutjob Tony Perkins pretty much demanded that McCain endorse Palin's religious views.
Like a good little whipped doggy, McCain has done exactly that.
Good little Maverick. bought and paid for.
September 9, 2008 3:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dammit. Link bleed. Once more...
Sorry about that.
September 9, 2008 3:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Whoa - that's really amazing - that needs to be talked about - he rejected the religious right and now he's flip flopped allllll the way over to about as loony as you can get on the religious right.
September 9, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
He must really be hating both himself and the deal he made just to deflate Obama's speech right now, eh?
September 9, 2008 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm waiting for the eruption - it should be monumental.
I've read that he picked her like that as an "in your face" to Rove, who was pressuring him to pick Romney.
You have to know he's fit to be tied!
September 9, 2008 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
still having link problem
September 9, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
THAT, is some whack info. Thanks!
Ought to really endear him to the moderates and independents, eh?
September 9, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cripes! Made it worse.
Perkins' demand.
McCain's compliance.
September 9, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are you using <a> instead of </a> to close your refs? If you're still having problems, try just posting the links without any html around them at all. E.g., http://www.example.com
September 9, 2008 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ben,
Yep. Using correct tags. It's what I do for a living.
Chalk it up to sausage fingers, typing too fast, no preview function, etc.
I personally blame Tony Perkins for raising my blood pressure, and McCain for folding like a cheap suit.
September 9, 2008 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
John McLame is nothing but a gigantic tool.
September 9, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
See also, NY Times article linked below: Virginia Republicans are trying to prevent college students from registering to vote by issuing spurious and incorrect warnings about the "consequences" of such registrations. (A college student's right to register where s/he attends school has been upheld by the US Supreme Court.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/education/08students.html?scp=1&sq=student%20voters&st=cse
September 9, 2008 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
The people in that state have been cheating in the voting process for years, mostly in the minority Democratic areas. Only jail time will even began to stop the election fraud in that state.
September 9, 2008 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gee! How shocking that the pack of criminals known as the Republican Party would try and rig an election!
I'm sure the Justice Department will get right on it.
September 9, 2008 4:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
After 8 years of the Bush/Cheney gang, the Republican corruption and hypocrisy, the Republicans know they can't win many elections this time around unless they steal them.
Be on your guard.
September 9, 2008 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Corrupt Republicans? In the South?! No way!
September 9, 2008 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Speaking as an outside observer, this is the one part of your electoral system that spins me out.
September 9, 2008 8:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Speaking as an outside observer, this is the one part of your electoral system that spins me out.
Utterly insane! How do you guys manage with partisan electoral commissions?
Perhaps an independent controlling the election might be something to try before criminal sanctions, eh :)
September 9, 2008 8:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
How do you guys manage with partisan electoral commissions?
What's the alternative? How would you rid our electoral commissions of partisanship?
And not just overt partisanship - I mean all partisanship.
September 10, 2008 9:09 AM | Reply | Permalink