Assuming the R's don't steal a few elections to save their asses!
Posted by Palolo lolo at August 16, 2006 06:24 AMWhat the poster above said. If I was an R, I'd be scared shitless. See Talent in MO (Judith - you sweet woman, you noticed this LONG ago before the mainline blogs) and others running like hell from their GOP ties. It's not like the national party has been efficent at rounding up their strays on the campaign trail or looking like a compentent government. The general GOP campaign has been a comedy of lunatic pander voting and bucket-walking.
If the data suggests that come election day the D's win House majority, there's going to be a bitter war for final Democratic machine supremacy. The DLC and Dean's control of the DNC are going to have an all-out battle over who gets the credit, who gets the spoils, and who controls the party for the immediate future. Was it Dean's 50 State intiative, or was it the circumstances that the D's simply let the governing party hang themselves on? Are they going to find a coherent voice and set of policies to lead with once in power?
So far, my hopes for the Democratic leadership are less sanguine.
Posted by idiosynchronic at August 16, 2006 06:44 AMSalon has a must read story about vote fraud and vote suppression we can expect again in at least 6 states. Alabama’s Dem Sec of State had authority stripped from her and given to the Rep. Governor due to “failure to comply with HAVA” requirements by Alberto Gonzales’ “Justice Dept.”, not that any other state out of compliance has had similar treatment.
Diebold, Sequoia and ES&S machines continue to be bought by election officials, with our taxpayer money, around the country, despite all the lawsuits, depositions and demonstrations of outright fraud, failure to pass the simplest standards of reliability and plausible conspiracy of the owners, managers and programmers, many of whom are convicted felons.
In the past 6 years, the gold standard of election prediction, exit polls, have routinely been “wrong” by as much as 5-6% and we are given explanations that it’s due to “bashful” Republicans; and the media convince the somnambulistic public that that makes sense!
Do you really think small trends indicating that Democrats should do well in elections make a rat’s ass worth of difference when they’ve won elections in many instances, only to “Lose” when the votes are “counted” by Diebold employees with secret, unfettered access to the voting machines and tabulators. In Ohio, they were even swapping hard drives AFTER THE ELECTIONS without any consequences. There were close to 100,000 reports and complaints of strange “glitches” in the 2004 elections and not one election was overturned. Let’s wake up folks!
Posted by DeminNewJ at August 16, 2006 07:06 AMLooking at the politicalarithmatik numbers, it looks like the Democrats need about a 5 point advantege over the GOP to win seats. I had heard this number used before by Republicans as if " as long as we aren't more than 5 point down, we should pick up seats." This 5 percent mark makes sense to me. Considering that the Democrats have an over 10 point lead now sets them up well for Novemeber.
Having said his, the warnings posted above have merit. We will need poll watchers, I did it myself in 2004 it's fun, to confirm an honest count and nothing can be taken for granted. But these numbers look good. If we are willing to work, we will be able to say "2006 will be the year that American took their country back."
Posted by herbal tee at August 16, 2006 08:55 AMHere's another article about problems in Ohio.
I forgot to tell you all that I saw Byron Dorgan a couple of weeks ago at a book signing.
I asked him if he would support legislation that made sure that our votes were not privatized.
He said that he is having Bobby Kennedy come to speak to the Democratic Caucus in two weeks. We should write all of our Dem Senators and demand that they do something about this dovetailing with Bobby Kennedy's visit.
If there are any problems we need to do like Mexico and sit on the steps of the Courthouses until every vote is counted.
There are several lawsuits currently regarding voting machines.
This is serious. They have nothing to offer the people so they must steal the elections.
Posted by Anjha at August 16, 2006 10:08 AMHere's another good site documenting OH fraud.
This is another good article on the polls.
Thanks for the links eriposte. I have to accomplish something today. No more playing on the Internets.
Posted by Anjha at August 16, 2006 10:44 AMHere's a link for you Anjha. I think it's great! You can either laugh or cry.
Marty Kaplan on How to hack a Diebold
Posted by DeminNewJ at August 16, 2006 11:13 AMWhere I vote here in Florida we still have the ballots where you fill in the little oval beside the candidate's name with a pen. In all the recounts of 2000 my voting district had no errors. Why not just use these and forget the computers? These little pieces of paper are un-hackable.
Posted by pissed off patricia at August 16, 2006 11:31 AMWhy not just use these and forget the computers? These little pieces of paper are un-hackable.
Because the people who print those little unhackable paper ballots don't make big campaign contributions.
Posted by snark at August 16, 2006 11:44 AMWhere I vote here in Florida we still have the ballots where you fill in the little oval beside the candidate's name with a pen.
Even if you have a paper ballot, fraud could still be committed by manipulating the computer's tallies. It's a bit more difficult to do, but possibile. The paper ballots also make a paper trail in case of a dispute.
Belive me, I've voted by scantron for years, and thought about how to do it, and read the BlackBox Voting materials. I don't have huge worries at the moment as my municipality has a Democratic County Auditor and Secretary of State . . but I do wonder if they messed with Green ballots in 2000, 2002, & 2004.
Posted by idiosynchronic at August 16, 2006 12:30 PM