I never expected that the actual October Surprise would take the unrecognizable form of something much more low key – the understated, insidious, and coordinated attack on ACORN and the subsequent cries of “voter fraud” it has enabled. It may not be dynamic enough to swing votes prior to the election, but it certainly will cast doubt on the legitimacy of the winner after the election.

After more than four years of activists and independent journalists trying – with little success – to get Democratic party leaders to take the very real issues of election fraud and voter suppression seriously enough to bring it out of the shadows, the issue – along with the righteous indignation and moral high ground that comes with trying to protect our precious right to vote – has been co-opted by Republican operatives who, in a matter of days, got the very false narrative of “voter fraud” on the lips of every television and radio newscaster and pundit.

Early voting has only just begun and already Fox news, Senator McCain, and conservative ideologues are reporting incidences that “prove” multiple and fake voter registrations – not to mention the intent of some to cast more than one ballot. This, despite no real evidence (or convictions) in recent years of this kind of fraud and a federal law (HAVA) that requires ID from anyone voting for the first time who hadn’t originally registered in person. In other words, false registrations do not equal stolen elections in any way, shape, or form.

Even worse, the cries of “voter fraud” have drowned out reports of real and potential problems at the polls. Whereby “voter fraud,” according to a comprehensive study by the Brennan Center for Justice, is “irrational and extremely rare” and “many vivid anecdotes of purported voter fraud have been proven false or do not demonstrate fraud,” election fraud and voter suppression – including large scale voter roll purging, insecure and easily manipulated electronic voting machines, voter intimidation, manufactured long lines (i.e. allocating too few voting machines for the expected turnout), the systematic suppression of low-income, young, and minority voters, and legislative influence (like Florida’s stringent “No Match, No Vote” law) – does exist. For instance, there is a law in Pennsylvania, a key state in this election, that mandates that voters can spend no more than 3 minutes casting their votes once they are in the voting booth. If they do take longer, they can be physically removed. You can’t put a time limit on democracy.

This election’s October Surprise sets the stage for Republicans to accuse Barack Obama, should he win on November 4, of stealing the election – a gut wrenching and ironic twist.

These allegations, unfortunately, are nothing new. But there is something funny about them – they tend to pop up every two years like clockwork and the organization that is targeted – ACORN – never gets charged or prosecuted. ACORN faced accusations in 2004 as well as in 2006, THE YEAR JOHN MCCAIN WAS THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER at an Immigration Rally sponsored by the group in Miami, Florida.

Brad Friedman over at BradBlog gives us an update from Sharona of Voice of Americans 2008 a “musical tribute to McCain’s change of heart about ACORN, followed by a local news report from his appearance at the ACORN immigration reform rally in Florida (note all of the folks with the red ACORN shirts on in the crowd shots)…”:

Hey, can we get back to talking about the economy now?

Despite McCain and company’s maneuverings, Brad Friedman of BradBlog rightly calls out their actual intent as an “assault on democracy” and points out that are still completely ignoring the real problem, “Concerns of Actual Election Fraud, Voter Registration Purges in State After State…”:

The GOP’s October “Surprise” continues…Even as it’s no surprise at all that they are hoping to cause absolute bedlam at the polls. They are off to a good start, as the Democrats seem to be caught flat-footed, despite years of warnings about all of this.

The latest Republican assault on democracy began earlier this week with a ’stunt’ raid in (swing state) Nevada, then unsubstantiated allegations in (swing state) Missouri last night (raid coming soon, no doubt), and just hours ago as AP reports, it’s (swing state) Ohio…

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Law enforcement officials in southwest Ohio are seeking information on hundreds of voters who registered and voted during Ohio’s weeklong same-day voting window.

Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer and representatives of County Prosecutor Stephen Haller have contacted the local Board of Elections asking for the voter registration cards of everyone who voted during the six-day window, which ended Monday.

Haller is the former law partner of Mike DeWine, the former Republican senator who is chairing presidential nominee John McCain’s Ohio campaign.

[Update: In an updated version of the AP report quoted above, it's noted that Sheriff Fisher is "a Republican," that Green County is "rich with Democrat-leaning college students," and that Fisher requested the voter information after "he had been inundated with phone calls from people concerned about possible fraud." In other words, no actual evidence of anything, just angry Republicans, fired up by chasing their own tails after Fox/RNC told them too. Smelling the rats here, yet?]

Whatever fear the Dems had of talking about this issue seems a tad bit silly right about now…

ACORN. You thought they were a community-based organization of 400,000 families in neighborhoods across the country fighting for the rights of the oppressed and powerless. You thought they were empowering citizens by registering over 1.3 million low-income, minority, and young voters in a total of 21 states. You thought they have been fighting for years against predatory lending practices.

Ha! Suckers! Thank goodness this year you have the Republicans and their leaders like John McCain and Sarah Palin to enlighten you, like past Republican leaders have enlightened you about ACORN in 2004 and 2006. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that every two years – election years, by golly – these accusations surface against a group that kicks ass in registering “low-income and minority voters” who traditionally are disenfranchised and tend to vote for one particular party.

From ACORN President Maude Hurd, “If John McCain thinks that community organizers caused the foreclosure crisis, he knows even less about the economy than previously thought”:

In his newest ad, John McCain’s campaign bizarrely claims that ‘ACORN forced banks to issue risky home loans, the same types of loans that caused the financial crisis we’re in today.’ Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, ACORN has worked successfully to help working class families get good home loans on fair terms from legitimate banks and has fought vigorously against predatory lenders who have ripped off families in our communities. These predatory loans caused the crisis.

“For more than a decade, ACORN members have held protests, released reports, and advocated for regulations to protect homeowners from predatory lenders. ACORN organizers and volunteers have been working day and night to help victims of the GOP economic meltdown to save their homes from foreclosure. In fact, ACORN has brought class action lawsuits against several predatory lenders, and has lobbied the Federal Reserve and Congress in support of regulations against predatory lending. ACORN has even been successful in convincing many lenders to treat homeowners more fairly and help families be able to make their mortgage payments and save their homes.

From ACORN’s Bertha Lewis and Steve Kest: The Truth About ACORN’s Voter Registration Drive

As The Nation pointed out recently, ACORN’s success in registering millions of low-income and minority voters has made it “something of a right-wing bogeyman.” Though ACORN believes that the right to vote is not, and should never be, a partisan issue, attacks from groups threatened by our historic success continue to come, motivated by partisan politics and often perpetuated by the media without full investigation of the facts. As a result, there have been a few recent stories about investigations of former ACORN workers for turning in incomplete, erroneous, or fraudulent voter registration applications. Predictably, partisan forces have tried to use these isolated incidents to incite fear of the “bogeyman” of “widespread voter fraud.” But we want to take this opportunity to set the record straight and tell you a few facts to show how these incidents really exemplify everything that ACORN is doing right:

Fact: ACORN has implemented the most sophisticated quality-control system in the voter engagement field, but in almost every state we are required to turn in ALL completed applications, even the ones we know to be problematic.

Fact: ACORN flags incomplete, problem, or suspicious cards when we turn them in, but these warnings are often ignored by election officials. Often these same officials then come back weeks or months later and accuse us of deliberately turning in phony cards.

Fact: Our canvassers are paid by the hour, not by the card, so there is NO incentive for them to falsify cards. ACORN has a zero-tolerance policy for deliberately falsifying registrations, and in the relatively rare cases where our internal quality controls have identified this happening we have fired the workers involved and turned them in to election officials and law-enforcement.

Fact: No charges have ever been brought against ACORN itself. Convictions against individual former ACORN workers have been accomplished with our full cooperation, using the evidence obtained through our quality control and verification processes.

Fact: Voter fraud by individuals is extremely rare, and incredibly difficult. There has never been a single proven case of anyone, anywhere, casting an illegal vote as a result of a phony voter registration. Even if someone wanted to influence the election this way, it would not work.

Fact: Most election officials have recognized ACORN’s good work and praised our quality control systems. Even in the cities where election officials have complained about ACORN, the applications in question represent less than 1% of the thousands and thousands of registrations ACORN has collected.

Fact: Our accusers not only fail to provide any evidence, they fail to suggest a motive: there is virtually no chance anyone would be able to vote fraudulently, so there is no reason to deliberately submit phony registrations. ACORN is committed to ensuring that the greatest possible numbers of people are registered and allowed to vote, so there is also NO incentive to “disrupt the system” with phony cards.

Fact: Similar accusations were made, and attacks launched, against ACORN and other voter registration organizations in 2004 and 2006. These attacks were not only groundless, they have since been exposed as part of the U.S. Attorney-gate scandal and revealed to be part of a systematic partisan agenda of voter suppression.

In 2004 and 2006, ACORN and other voter registration organizations were also accused of encouraging false voter registrations. When it finally came out in Congressional hearings that ACORN was indeed the victim of fraud and not the perpetrator of “voter fraud” (which doesn’t exist), several State Attorneys General, including New Mexico’s David Iglesias, had been illegally fired and their boss, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was forced to resign. Why was Iglesias fired? Because he refused to prosecute baseless charges of “voter fraud” in a partisan attempt at systematic voter suppression.

As they were in past election years, these attempts at voter suppression are part of a “full court press” against the country’s electorate – more specifically, the more easily disenfranchised. Add these attacks against ACORN to massive illegal voter roll purging (including, in a BBC expose featuring Greg Palast and Robert Kennedy, Jr., three million voters who have been disappeared by a GOP campaign draining voter rolls of the victims of the economic collapse), other forms of obfuscation and intimidation like the anonymous flier circulating in African-American neighborhoods in North and West Philadelphia that states “that voters who are facing outstanding arrest warrants or who have unpaid traffic tickets may be arrested at the polls on Election Day,” still unsolved issues with paperless voting, and completely transparent and bogus partisan challenges to legitimately registered voters, and the game is over.

In 1995, Bill Ayers was part of a team that helped create the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, an education reform project that worked with half of Chicago’s public schools. Barack Obama, then working as an attorney and law school professor, was elected chairman of the eight-member board of the CAC. The board included individuals of diverse political backgrounds, including Ray Romero, the President of Ameritech; Stanley Ikenberry, the former President of the University of Illinois; and Republican Arnold Weber, who had served in the Nixon White House.

CAC was funded by a foundation belonging to Walter Annenberg, the billionaire Republican philanthropist who served as Richard M. Nixon’s ambassador to the U.K. Annenberg and his wife, Leonore, gave the CAC $50 million in the 90’s.

But Walter and Leonore weren’t just giving money to educational foundations started by William Ayers. They were also giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee and various other Republican groups, as well as to a whole host of Republican candidates, including the following

* George W. Bush $4000
* Mitt Romney $5000
* Strom Thurmond $1000
* Fred Thompson $500
* Rick Santorum $3000

Why would billionaire Republican philanthropists give millions of dollars to a program that was working with William Ayers? Why would George W., Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and all those other Republicans accept money from the people who were funding this William Ayers-associated group? Why won’t McCain discuss these connections between the Republican Party and Ayers

Here’s the icing on the cake: just yesterday, the McCain campaign put out a press release bragging about the fact that Leonore Annenberg has endorsed him for president. Yes, you heard it– a McCain backer bankrolled William Ayers with millions of dollars

More icing: You know that Republican Arnold Weber I mentioned earlier? The one that served on the board of the CAC with Barack? Not only did he work with William Ayers in the 90’s, he has also donated at least $1000 to the McCain campaign. That’s right– McCain is accepting money from associates of William Ayers, and so far has not given the money back.

Oh what a tangled web Fred Thompson’s pals weave.

It was a cool early fall evening, and the doors of the parthenon stood open, providing a glimpse of the chambers of Athena behind the debaters. Haslam stood in for McCain-Palin, and Cooper stood in for Obama-Biden. Each fielded a number of previously submitted questions from area students. As Jim Cooper said in his opening remarks, “We don’t inherit this country from our ancestors; every day we borrow it from you.”

Here is a sampling of the questions with answers captured impressionistically by me:

1. On nuclear energy

   Haslam: Three point answer: 1) drill more, 2) use less, 3) pursue alternatives, including nuclear (cited France)

   Cooper: Coal has a role. “We’re the Saudi Arabia of coal.” Mentioned support of nuclear, which is not always safe in Democratic-leaning areas.

2. On campaign finance (in light of both candidates receiving significant financial support from Wall Street)

   Cooper: There is a problem with the way we finance elections.

   Haslam: Noted that there is “all sorts of influence,” not all of it monetary.

3. On the draft

   Haslam: Gave strong assurances that McCain didn’t support a draft. POW! Strong military volunteerism in family. Slipped and cited “George Wallace” when he meant “George Washington,” but quickly corrected himself.

   Cooper: Claimed that Iraq was the first all-volunteer war. Supported a civilian service corps because service is the only thing that fosters “true humanity, true community.”

4. On presidential blame for the financial crisis

   Cooper: Pointed out that Clinton gave us the first (footnoted) surplus since the 1920s. Cited the independent Federal Reserve, the role of Congress, and the power of the bully pulpit.

   Haslam: Cautioned that “government is not a magic box. You get out what you put in.”

5. On going green (at the suggestion of pop culture)

   Haslam: Indicated that it transcended pop culture. Asserted that whether climate change is man-made or not doesn’t matter. Conserving and cutting costs “makes sense.”

   Cooper: Said he’s learning from his daughter, who is a “localvore.” Said the spirit of conservation connects her to the old ways of her grandmother, who saved material things (string, paper) for later reuse.

6. On Iran

   Cooper: Suggested that the “young people” read Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books as a method of better understanding other cultures. Referenced Israel’s complicated relationship with the international community and the complications of Shia versus Sunni.

   Haslam: Suggested that there is no black/white. That there is lots of “nuance.”

7. On containing the costs of universal healthcare

   Haslam: Suggested that market controls will be the most effective method.

   Cooper: With “all due respect,” suggested that this was “a terrible question” because it was asked with the assumption that universal healthcare would be more costly than the status quo, which is incredibly expensive with little value comparative to other industrialized countries. Recommended Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer for further reading. Promoted the Healthy Americans Act. Cited need to stop bad incentives.

8. On working families

   Cooper: Repeatedly stated that Obama’s tax plan lowers taxes for 95% of Americans and suggested that it’s time for people to “upgrade your stereotypes.”

   Haslam: Suggested that Obama’s promises can’t be kept just by increasing taxes on 5% of Americans.

9. On joining the International Criminal Court

   Haslam: Claimed McCain would consider joining if American soldiers could be adequately protected and not “second-guessed” during combat. POW!

   Cooper: Contra McCain, most Republicans have not been open-minded on this issue. Cited America’s damaged international reputation.

10. On offshore drilling

    Cooper: Noted that previous ban had expired as of today and that drilling is now allowed within 3 miles of American coastline except for West coast of Florida.

    Haslam: Didn’t hear Cooper state what Obama’s position was. Reiterated McCain’s position of drilling as a partial requirement for energy security.

11. On the DREAM Act

    Haslam: Admitted that he was unable to find McCain’s position on this issue and turned the floor over to Coop, who said, “He supports it.” Said he finds it’s better to admit it when one doesn’t know the answer to a question.

    Cooper: Explained the bill, which offers a path to higher education for the children of illegal immigrants. Said McCain’s support for this bill, likely to be lost as his “maverick” status fades in the presidential race, sets him apart from his party. Called it a “question of elemental fairness to young people.”

12. On schools

    Cooper: Pointed out that until recently, 95% of education policy was state/local. Referenced some of the “stupid rules” of No Child Left Behind.

    Haslam: Generalized the notion that the more government is local, the better it is.

13. On Islam

    Haslam: Recommended avoiding a “broad paintbrush.”

    Cooper: Called Islam a “completely legitimate” religion. Compared characterizing terrorists as “Islamic extremists” with characterizing the KKK as “Baptist extremists” or “Church of Christ extremists.” Referenced Clausewitz’s first rule of war: “understand the enemy.”

14. On the role of faith in public life

    Cooper: Against state-based religion, as well as discriminating on the basis of religion. Cited Romney’s Mormonism, a “perfectly legitimate faith,” but that contributed to Romney’s loss because of intolerance among conservative Christians.

    Haslam: “Faith should be welcome in the public square.”

In closing, Haslam advocated trust in what someone has done over what someone says. Coop ended with, “Once every few generations…” and issued a call to young people that was already underway.

The questions were impressive, revealing a level of student engagement far surpassing my own and that of most of my peers at that age. I heard questions from MBA, Harpeth Hall, McGavock, Maplewood, and St. Cecilia.

In my opinion, Haslam and Cooper represent the best each party has to offer in Tennessee. Each is likable and thoughtful and unlikely (in my experiences with each thus far) to dodge questions and replace them with careful messaging. Both men are as close to candid as modern politics allows. Each acquitted himself well and gave a thorough and thoughtful presentation of contrasting ideas that help to illustrate the difference in Democratic and Republican ideologies without the bluster and negativity so common on television. For students interested in politics and policy, this served as a great introduction.

Seigenthaler, whose moderation was mostly confined to giving a gravelly cadence of wisdom to the enthusiastically earnest words of Nashville youth, paused the debate at one point to note the civility, especially in contrast with the national version of this debate that is unfolding. At the end, he expressed his “profound honor” to be in the company of “young men” such as these (Haslam and Coop) and praised the “ingenious idea” of Brad Gioia, headmaster of MBA.

Several of the mayor’s staff and the mayor himself showed up to support the engagement of the Youth Council. Chris Henson (interim Director of Schools) and Alan Coverstone (member, Board of Education) were also present. Alan teaches and is an administrator at MBA.

I’m hopeful that we’ll get the opportunity to speak with Mayor Haslam on the show at some point if he’ll accept.

John McCain, who has risen to political prominence on his image as a Vietnam POW war hero, has, inexplicably, worked very hard to hide from the public stunning information about American prisoners in Vietnam who, unlike him, didn’t return home. Throughout his Senate career, McCain has quietly sponsored and pushed into federal law a set of prohibitions that keep the most revealing information about these men buried as classified documents. Thus the war hero people would logically imagine to be a determined crusader for the interests of POWs and their families became instead the strange champion of hiding the evidence and closing the books.

You can put lipstick on a lie, but it’s still a lie.

• Overshadowing everything, the big bailout package is in crisis.
• Sarah Palin does an interview so bad that new conservative wunderkind Ross Douthat can’t even bear to link to it* for fear of his own reputation.
• McCain got frustrated with combining losing both the election and the limelight, so he “suspended” his campaign.
• We enjoy the biggest bank failure in U.S. history.
• While nobody’s looking, the carmakers are separately bailed out.

And now we’re at war with Pakistan. Thank the Assemblies of God they’re not a nuclear power! Oh, wait…

Oh, and I’ve had to work late all week. At least I can rest easy knowing the fundamentals of our economy are strong!

Hope seems more audacious by the moment.

* I have no such qualms.

Voter caging is a practice of sending mass direct mailings to registered voters by non-forwardable mail, then compiling lists of voters, called “caging lists,” from the returned mail in order to formally challenge their right to vote on that basis alone. Other methods, such as database matching, have been used more recently to compile voter caging lists.

From North Carolina Verified Voting:

Reports from around the country advise that John McCain’s campaign has sent confusing or incorrect absentee ballot request forms to voters in ten states at least. Affected so far are Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon (reported by blogger, not confirmed) Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin so far. In each state, the mailers have a different error, in any of these cases, the voter could be disenfranchised by the error. In at least one state a voter could disqualify themselves or be vulnerable to election challenges if they mailed these forms in. Mailers sent to Wisconsin voters are encouraging voters to send their applications to clerks in communities where they do not live. If you receive an absentee ballot request form from the McCain campaign ( or any private entity) and you do want to vote absentee, then instead check with your County Board of Elections to get the correct information.

Tennessee.

“Tennessee Democrat: why did GOP sent him Florida absentee ballot request?,” The Florida Republican Party mailed an absentee ballot request (for a Sarasota Florida ballot) to a Democrat in Murfreesboro Tennessee. The form has one name, Mr. William R. “X” with the person having two addresses, one in Tennessee, and one in Sarasota Florida. In actuality, these are two different men with the same first and last name. They both use the same middle initial, but upon further research, they have different middle names. The Mr. X in Tennessee is William Randy X . The Mr. X in Florida is William Rob X. Ms. “X” in Tennessee wondered if this was a scheme to somehow void voter registrations for some people. (Last name and street addresses redacted for privacy.).

Florida.

Florida Voter Caging Warning. McCain mailer w/absentee ballot requests: McCain mailers are sending people unsolicited absentee ballot requests.

Iowa.

Fraudulent Absentee Ballot Requests in Iowa? (Fri Sep 12, 2008) (blog, not confirmed independently)
Several days ago, I recieved [sic] an interesting piece of mail from John McCain 2008. It was a vote-by-mail application, which I thought was curious because I have never registered as a Republican or donated money to his campaign…

Michigan.

Rove tricks? McCain absentee ballots raise questions, (9/13/08) “I received my absentee ballot from John McCain just last week (see photo of the mailer) and although I called to verify that unsolicited ballots were legal, I’d never looked at an absentee ballot before in my life, so I had no idea of the problems being caused across the country by McCain’s absentee ballot forms….

Minnesota.

John McCain’s Literature Bundled With Absentee Ballot Request Forms (September 14th, 2008) A friend showed me one that his step-daughter received in Minneapolis from an Arlington, Virginia address containing a Colorado absentee ballot request form. The addressee wasn’t ever registered to vote in Colorado and only lived there briefly to work a seasonal job. It didn’t apply to her whatsoever and she was not clear why she received it.

Missouri and Nationally.

“McCain Campaign Accused Of Mailing Incorrect Absentee Ballots To Democratic Voters,” More than a million registered voters in at least a dozen states have received unsolicited absentee ballots from the McCain campaign. The problem? Many of them seem to have wrong info on them, which would in many cases lead to the ballots being thrown out or disallowed by local election officials.

North Carolina.
“McCain Confusing NC Republican Voters. ” The Campaign of John McCain has begun sending out misleading information to North Carolina voters about absentee voting. ……The critically missing piece information is the date of birth…

Ohio.

“Ballot snafu endangers votes,” (Sept 9, 2008). …In Ohio, the McCain campaign printed and sent out about a million of these. The campaign made a mistake: the form included an unnecessary located the question asking if the voter was eligible to vote at the top of the form where it was missed by many voters. If the voter failed to check the box by the question, he or she is stating that he or she is not eligible and the application has to be rejected by law.

Oregon.

“My McCain Absentee Ballots,” by weazley (a DKos blog), (Sep 05, 2008)
…I found it funny they were including my “Vote-by-Mail” application when all Oregon elections are done by mail. Then I looked closer at the instructions: “Request your absentee ballot in 3 simple steps” and the address on the two “Absentee Ballot Request” Cards: “Director of Elections, 420 Holmes St, Bellefonte, PA 16823″. It appears John McCain would like me to register to vote in Pennsylvania, presumably knowing (they had to get my current address somehow) that I’ve registered and voted 3 or 4 times since I last lived in Pennsylvania (2002-ish) in two different states (Washington and Oregon) at four different addresses.

Pennsylvania.

“Election fliers confuse some,” BY DAVID SINGLETON STAFF WRITER Sunday, (September 14, 2008)…Some county residents recently received a mailer from Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain with a pair of absentee ballot applications already addressed to Ms. Young’s office attached. The flier includes the appeal, Vote early by mail – it’ s as easy as 1-2-3.

Virginia:

“Be careful if you receive unrequested absentee ballot application,” WDBJ7 September 10, 2008
“Why is a Republican, Democrat, anybody sending out an unsolicited request?” wonders Murdock.

Wisconsin.

“McCain’s mailer creates controversy,” By MARK PITSCH. The state elections agency is investigating complaints about a massive campaign mailing Republican Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign has directed toward Wisconsin Democrats and other voters…. in some cases, the incorrect clerk’s address is printed on the application, leading some Democrats to wonder if the Arizona senator’s campaign is deliberately trying to get them to apply for absentee ballots in places where they aren’t eligible to vote….The campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain has dispatched a mass mailing to Wisconsin voters — including many Democrats and liberals who are not likely to be McCain backers — that encourages eligible voters to send their applications for absentee ballots to clerks in communities where they do not reside.

The chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers’, is calling on the John McCain campaign to “immediately halt Republican vote suppression efforts,” as seen recently in Michigan — where a county GOP chair announced his intention to use home foreclosure lists to challenge voter eligibility at the polls on Election Day — and elsewhere.

Conyers has announced hearings on these issues, and is calling on Attorney General Michael Mukasey to launch an immediate “full scale investigation” into these matters. He has sent letters both to McCain [PDF] and to Mukasey [PDF] (the latter signed by 23 members of Congress) to that effect, as well as issuing the following statement today…

Read the rest…