Wild Eyed, Devious and Desperate
Reported by Melanie - November 2, 2004 -
Dayside w/Linda Vester continued the theme of panic over voter fraud (mostly portraying Republicans as victims) which Nancy reported on earlier today (November 2, 2004).
The show began with a report from Palm Beach, Florida which included information about "folks calling" voters there, telling them their precinct location had changed. Vester relayed information about a federal appeals court in Ohio giving Republicans the right to challenge votes at polling places "in cases where they question voters' eligibility." She added that "a couple of hours ago yet another" legal action had been filed in Ohio about provisional ballots and that within the past hour "more legal action" was filed by the Democrats in Cleveland.
Jeff Goldblatt reported from Cleveland on the ruling which allows Republicans to challenge voters there. He told of a new Democratic party suit in another county asking for permission to put additional challengers in place, and he told about a provisional ballot lawsuit filed against the Ohio Secretary of State by a Democrat there.
A political science professor was a guest in a segment in which he and Vester talked about what sort of campaigning is allowed outside polling places. Vester used as examples "all these 537 organizations" like Acorn and ACT (America Coming Together) and she talked about the Kerry campaign having a "snack bar" (she didn't say where) and giving food to people waiting in line. She wondered if that was okay or if the food could be "implied as a gift."
Going to a break at the half hour Vester said there were accusations of voter fraud in Philadelphia and that Tom Daschle was "fighting to keep his seat" in South Dakota and that a judge had just issued a ruling in a suit filed in that state.
Todd Connor, standing in front of what was presumably a polling place with a MoveOn.org sign taped to a wrought iron fence running along the perimeter, reported on a Green party voter who damaged a voting machine in Philadelphia and about a woman who allegedly saw a counter on a voting machine which registered 400 votes even before the polls opened.
Vester then reported that in Milwaukee Republicans found tires slashed on 30 rented vans they'd planned to use in a get-out-the-vote effort.
Then to Carol McKinley in Sioux Falls, SD, who reported on the nasty campaign there and the lawsuits flying between Republicans and Democrats.
Next it was a segment with election lawyer Peter Johnson on email complaints received at Dayside. One was a report that MoveOn members in the Detroit area were setting up tables at polling places. Another was that MoveOn members were heckling voters entering polling places in Minnesota, and the third was about a person in Petersburg, VA who was given a sample ballot with Kerry's name already checked on it, and a list of all Kerry's "great attributes" and a lit of all the negative things about George Bush.
COMMENT: If you only watched Fox, you'd think there were marauding Democrats all over the country suing and attacking and trying to trick and deceive Republicans, but dang, those Republicans are only trying to make sure things run smoothly. (And we wonder why the nation is divided.)
