I'm not endorsing this article, but...
Bamboozling the American electorate again
The strategy involves G.O.P. crossover voting to take out Clinton, marketing newcomer Obama, stripping battleground delegates, and (if necessary) inciting a riot at the convention or declaring martial law...
Revised and Updated March 25, 2008
Evidence of a covert campaign to undermine the presidential primaries is rife, so it's curious that the Democratic Party and even some within the G.O.P. have ignored the actual elephant in the room this year. That would be Karl Rove. Long accused of rigging the two previous presidential elections, this master of deceit would have us believe that he's gone off to sit in a corner and write op-eds.
Not so. According to an article in Time magazine published last November, Republicans have been organized in several states to throw their weight behind Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic rival of Hillary Clinton. At least three former fundraisers for President Bush flushed his coffers with cash early on in the race, something the deep pockets had not done for any candidate in their own party. With receipts topping $100 million in 2007, the first-term Illinois senator broke the record for contributions. It was a remarkable feat, considering that most Americans had not even heard of him before 2005.
The Time article went on to explain that rank and file Republicans were switching parties this spring to vote for Obama in the Democratic primaries. Though not mentioned in the piece, a group called Republicans for Obama formed in 2006 to expedite the strategy, and the Obama campaign launched its own "Be a Democrat For a Day" campaign in 2007. (A campaign video distributed in Florida, Nevada and Vermont explains the procedure.) Many states have open primaries, allowing citizens to vote for any candidate, regardless of their party affiliation. In Nebraska, the mayor of Omaha publicly rallied Republicans to caucus for Obama on February 9th. In Pennsylvania, Time reported on March 19th that Obama was running radio ads in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia calling on voters to register as Democrats.
The tactic, called crossover voting, appears to be part of a Rove-supported effort to deprive Clinton of the nomination. Republicans For Obama, for one, was not bashful in an email appeal linked to its home page before the March 4th contests. "Since Texas has an open primary," the appeal read, "Republicans and Independents should sign in at their polling place and request a Democratic ballot. They should then vote for Barack Obama... Just think, no more Clintons in the White House!"
Rove has certainly done his homework. Even with the full monte of election-scamming tools available to him - phone bank sabotage, fake polling data, swiftboating, waitlisting, electronic voting equipment, Norman Hsu, etc. - he would be hard pressed to defeat Clinton in November. That's because she's popular nationwide and has promised an immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq. If the contest isn't close, the vote-rigging won't matter. Several influential Republicans admitted as much in a February 11th story for Politico.
If, on the other hand, Obama wins the nomination (or even the VP spot), Rove's prospects brighten considerably....
http://www.thecityedition.com/Pages/Archive/Winter08/2008Election.html
