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...But 2004 included much more, eventually enough to trigger a joint probe by the local prosecutor and the U.S. attorney that turned up a mess of illegal voting but led to few prosecutions. Now, the Milwaukee Police Department's report serves up 67 pages of cases, addresses, numbers, and this conclusion: "The task force believes fraud was committed."... Police found that campaign workers brought to Wisconsin for the final days voted, though their homes to which they immediately returned were in other states.... Investigators' top recommendation is to ditch same-day registration. It simply doesn't allow time to catch mistakes or fraud.......

<p>With a week to go until the Texas and Ohio primaries, stressed Clinton staffers circulated a photo over the weekend of a "dressed" Barack Obama.</p> <p>The photo, taken in 2006, shows the Democrat frontrunner dressed as a Somali Elder, during his five-country tour of Africa.</p>

The liberal New York Times is wasting no time in smearing John McCain, the Republican Party nominee for President. Late Wednesday, the Times published to its website a story set to hit print editions Thursday, linking McCain to a female lobbyist. The paper suggested the Arizona Senator has been engaged in an illicit relationship. "A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet," the Times reported. "Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff...

It certainly seems like that could be the case. At five different campaign stops on five different dates someone near the stage at an Obama rally faints, and Obama notices each time and reacts in basically the same way. Here’s some audio/video proof: Feb. 24th, 2007-Sen. Obama in Los Angeles, CA:

It would be insane to waste time and energy worrying that somewhere, doubtless in a high-tech subterranean lair, Republican masterminds are cackling over their diabolical plot: The use of reverse psychology to lure unsuspecting Democrats into nominating Barack Obama, an innocent lamb who will be chewed up by the attack machine in the fall. Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Or maybe Republicans are using double super secret backward reverse psychology to exploit the Democratic Party's congenital paranoia: Let's say nice things about Obama so Democrats think we really want to run against him, and that will make them play into our hands by nominating...

Republican Mitt Romney's presidential campaign says it has not been making illegal "robo-calls" to North Dakotans and says some pranksters are trying to pass themselves off as Romney supporters. Two attorneys in Romney's campaign have sent a letter to Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, asking him to investigate the calls. Stenehjem said Sunday his office would check out the complaint. The letter, quoting what it said were reports from Romney supporters, linked some of the calls to a volunteer call center in Michigan that it said had done work for John McCain, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.

Make no mistake about it: If Hillary Clinton is elected president, her husband will be her rogue co-president, causing constant chaos, crises and conflicts for her new administration. And sometimes, that will be exactly what Hillary wants. Chaos is Bill Clinton’s signature style and he’s not about to suddenly change. No way. Nor does Hillary necessarily want him to be a new Bill. In many ways, his divisive role in her campaign has been carefully crafted by Hillary and her team. It might come in useful in the White House, too. Throughout Hillary’s campaign, Bill has given us an unfortunate...

Every campaign cycle, you hear complaints that this is the dirtiest campaign ever. Modern campaigns, disgusting as they sometimes get, would have a long way to go to beat some elections in the early days of the Republic. But this one has featured a number of flat-out dishonest tricks. John McCain has always been ethically challenged. In Florida, McCain's campaign was making calls to voters accusing Mitt Romney of supporting a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, even though Romney had said on national television that if such a timetable came to him, he would veto it. When talk radio played...

A cheer went up from the crowd of Fred staffers at the Greenville Embassy Suites when Fox News called South Carolina for McCain. No, Fred is not a stalking horse, but what has emerged here is a palpable contempt for Mike Huckabee and his campaign methods (push polls Upstate) and his outright lies and blatant pandering changes of position. CW is that conservatives have serious resevations with Huckabee and McCain. If this sample is representative of conservatives-and Fred’s campaign is certainly staffed with many Reagan conservatives-then Rush and Levin are only half right. UPDATE: 9:35. A groan greeted Huck’s appearance....

David Plouffe, in a succinct statement appended to a released quotation from his boss, Barack Obama, said the Obama campaign was investigating more than 200 reporters of irregularities in Nevada. “We currently have reports of over 200 separate incidents of trouble at caucus sites, including doors being closed up to thirty minutes early, registration forms running out so people were turned away, and ID being requested and checked in a non-uniform fashion. This is in addition to the Clinton campaign’s efforts to confuse voters and call into question the at-large caucus sites which clearly had an affect on turnout at...

ABC's Christine Byun reports: Republican candidate Fred Thompson’s campaign is accusing rival Mike Huckabee’s campaign of more "dirty tricks" in South Carolina. They say fliers with misleading information about the former Tennessee senator’s abortion record were placed on parked cars at their event venue last night (http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/01/thompson-lets-g.html). The fliers insinuate Thompson voted for funding for abortions through a bill that supported Planned Parenthood. Thompson –- who has received the endorsement of national anti-abortion organization National Right to Life –- did vote for the bill in question, H.R. 3061. However, the bill specifically states that it does not include federal funding...

What a shame that a contest that has the world gripped, that is transforming international opinion of the United States, that has shown America in its best and most brilliant light, threatens to descend into a pathetic slanging match over race. On Monday Hillary Clinton called for a truce reminding everyone that “Senator Obama and I are on the same side”. Hear hear. But how did it come to this? The thin catalogue of complaints against the Clinton campaign from the Obama campaign were unfounded, manipulative and self-indulgent. At best they called into question the oversensitivity of Mr Obama, at...

Cannot post due to copyright issues: http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080117/NEWS0206/80117105/1009/NEWS02

Republican candidate Fred Thompson called moral foul on former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee for recent push-polling calls to South Carolina residents. "I'm somewhat surprised that someone who espouses the values the Governor talks about all the time would find himself in the situation ... this is clearly improper activity that is going on right under his nose," Thompson said. The Thompson campaign says they have been receiving complaints of push-polling calls to South Carolina residents with false information about the former Tennessee senator's position on partial birth abortion and illegal immigration. They campaign says the calls are being paid for...

Volunteers making telephone calls for Senator John McCain in South Carolina last weekend noticed something odd: Four people contacted said in remarkably similar language that they opposed Mr. McCain for president because of his 1980 divorce from his first wife, Carol, who raised the couple’s three children while Mr. McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. By Tuesday afternoon, a group calling itself Vietnam Veterans Against McCain had sent out a crude flier accusing the candidate of selling out fellow P.O.W.’s to save himself. By Tuesday evening, a group called Common Sense Issues, which supports Mike Huckabee, had begun...

Oh boy one has to believe that Huckabee will be getting some blow-back from this. These push polls have even brought out the South Carolina Attorney General to make this statement: “Last evening the Associated Press reported that that an out-of-state special interest group, Common Sense Issues, had launched a massive push polling effort disparaging John McCain and other candidates for president. In their push poll, Common Sense Issues makes several misleading claims regarding John McCain’s record.“Allow me to set the record straight. In the U.S. Senate, John McCain has been an unwavering voice for the rights of the unborn....

Sunday may be a day of rest, but not for the political dirty tricksters. When Mike Huckabee emerged from the Cornerstone Family Church in Des Moines on the Sunday before the Iowa caucuses, he found that someone had papered the cars in the suburban megachurch's parking lot with fliers asking, MIKE HUCKABEE—A 'TRUE' CONSERVATIVE? The leaflet accused the former Arkansas governor of, among other sins, releasing a convicted rapist who raped again (and murdered) and saying nice things about Bill Clinton. "Don't be fooled by that smooth voice," warned the flier. Credited to an anonymous group called the Lynchburg Christian...

Mike Murphy a/k/a Richelieu Returns to Hurt Thompson (and Romney?) By Erick Posted in 2008 — Comments (14) / Email this page » / Leave a comment » As I noted here, credible rumors are circulating -- having started with reporters who were approached about the story -- that Mike Murphy, who blogs at the Weekly Standard as Richelieu, pushed out the "Thompson to endorse McCain" rumor in Iowa. This all tracks with a report by Jed Babbin on the Politico hit job notes All evidence points to the Politico story being the result of a dirty trick. As Bob...

I found this video - and was shocked. I also called New 5 ABC in Boston. WCVB TV Channel 5 Boston I was told that was their camerman right there filming this. Couple this with the comment from the page of another person: I called News 5 ABC in Boston, whose cameraman is there on the right and they confirmed that these are in fact paid Romney staffers - not volunteers and not plants. That they would do this in front of cameras just shows how dirty and brazen these people have become. Unreal. Call for yourself to verify…. Here...

The liberal Web site Daily Kos is encouraging Democrats in Michigan to cross over and vote for Mitt Romney in Michigan Tuesday primary. Apparently, the thinking of the liberals encouraging the crossover vote is that a Romney victory there will further muddle the Republican presidential picture and help the Democrats win the White House in November. Fox News reports that “it’s a classic dirty trick, but perfectly legal. And while Machiavellian political ploys of this sort rarely work, the author’s logic is thus: ‘A Romney victory in Michigan will keep him in the presidential race. And the more candidates slugging...

This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows. "Progressive" political site DailyKos is urging Democrats in Michigan to cross over and vote for Gov. Mitt Romney in Tuesday's primary to keep the candidate in the GOP race and thereby ensure the Republicans continue "trashing each other."

Source is permitted via link only.Story.

The Dirty Trick Season by Jed Babbin (more by this author) Posted 01/07/2008 ET What happened to Fred Thompson on the day of the Iowa caucus was a political dirty trick worthy of the great tricksters of the Nixon era. The rumor that Thompson would drop out after Iowa and endorse John McCain, reported by The Politico -- picked up quickly in so many print and broadcast media -- was untrue as I wrote last week. Political rumors flood our eyes, ears and e-mails every day. What qualified this as a dirty trick were the falsity and the timing. Rumored...

How to Rig an Election: Convicted Phone-Jammer Tells All Disgraced Ex-GOP Consultant Allen Raymond Reveals His Dirty Tricks as Party's 'Fall Guy' By MARCUS BARAM Jan. 6, 2008 — What does it take to win the New Hampshire primary  dirty tricks or retail politics? Stick to good old-fashioned politicking, says disgraced former GOP consultant Allen Raymond. "Retail politics and authenticity," he tells ABCNEWS.com. "Up in New Hampshire, they have great expectations of what you need to do as a candidate and you have to do it." Raymond should know. After all, he's the one who ran an illegal scheme...

From The Sunday Times January 6, 2008 Panicked Hillary is tempted to turn dirty Sarah Baxter ALREADY reeling from her third place in Iowa, Hillary Clinton was booed as she unveiled her new core message at the 100 Club Dinner for Democratic party notables in New Hampshire this weekend. “There are two big questions for voters in New Hampshire. One is, who will be ready to lead from day one? The second,” she said, pausing for boos mixed with cheers from her supporters, “is who can we nominate to go the distance against the Republicans?” Supporters of Barack Obama had...

Published reports that Fred Thompson soon will withdraw from the Republican presidential contest and endorse Sen. John McCain have been traced in part to Mitt Romney's campaign, trying to stir up strife between McCain and Thompson. There is no question, however, that McCain strategists would welcome Thompson's endorsement if and when he drops out. It could help McCain in the Jan. 19 South Carolina primary.

Quin Hillyer is a conservative, but not a Fred Thompson lackey. His observations? I am firmly convinced that Fred Thompson still has a real shot at the nomination...I watched him with Wolf Blitzer just an hour or so ago and he came across very very well indeed. He really is hitting on ALMOST all cylinders now, more so every day since beginning to really engage about December 1. ...it is also worth noting that the utterly scurrilous Politico story yesterday almost certainly depressed Thompson's vote in Iowa. As I said on Fox News yesterday, for a news outlet to publish...

Ed Rollins is a nasty, nasty piece of work. Here he was tonight on Fox News: Rollins: The wise men like you who say Huckabee doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in heck - well, he can still go out and take his message to the people. And we’ve seen all the wisdom doesn’t live in Washington, and all the wisdom doesn’t live in the press corps.” Wallace: You can accuse me of a lot of things, but I would note we’ve had Mike Huckabee on Fox News Sunday several times— Rollins: —and we’re very grateful for the opportunity to take...

In recent days, at least two evangelical pastors who are personally supporting Mike Huckabee received anonymous mailings warning that their churches risk sanction by the Internal Revenue Service if they become too involved in politics. The pastors said that the letters, one of which is notable for exaggerated punctuation and a spelling mistake, appeared aimed at preventing church leaders from encouraging congregants to turn out on caucus night. "The intention is to try to get us to back down," said Kevin Hollinger, the pastor of Algona's First Baptist Church and a letter recipient. Like dozens of other evangelical leaders in...

Only a few hours separates us from the results of the Iowa caucuses, and at least one campaign has decided to put them to good use. Push-polling calls have gone out to Iowans warning of the troubles voters will face from an Edwards or Obama nomination. Now who could have paid for those calls? Iowa Democrats received a new round of anonymous phone calls this week, under the guise of opinion poll research, slamming former Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama, in the latest display of the ugly side of this year's presidential campaign. Even before the first vote...

Who Created the Fake Thompson Dropout Story? http://www.politico.com/reporters/JonathanMartin.htmlJust as Dick Cheney had "a fever" for launching the Iraq war (or so Colin Powell told Bob Woodward), Jonathan Martin has had "a fever" for politics, government, public affairs and history from an early age. Martin grew up in a family that took subscriptions to all three weekly news magazines and he was subjected to a vacation diet of battlefields, museums and other landmarks of historic note. Thus imbued with a deep curiosity about The American Experience -- not to mention a working knowledge of every significant National Park Service-run property along...

Fred Thompson's campaign is denying reports this morning that the GOP presidential contender will drop out of the race after Iowa. A story in Politico said that Thompson "will drop out of the race within days if he finishes poorly in Thursday's caucus." Rich Galen, an adviser to Fred Thompson, said it would be an understament to say that he is strongly denying the story. "I can't put enough adjectives in front of the 'deny' to accurately describe how vehemently I'm denying the story," he said in an e-mail. Scott Will, Iowa Political Director for Friends of Fred Thompson,...

I was just watching FoxNews Shepard Smith. The Romney campaign is being fingered as the source for the phony story about the drop out. One of the Romney jerks is on making snide remarks.

...[UPDATED:] Making the rounds this morning, several people are fingering McCain guys for initiating this article. I know at least two campaigns are also seeing a late breaking surge for Fred. McCain's invested in the "I'll be a surprise third" story line, so it makes some sense that McCainiacs would push this.

According to people who actually know, I'm told $1,878,138 has been raised since the debate on December 12 from 24,949 people, including $719,534 from 10,237 people. For the week before, week of and week after Christmas, I think that’s pretty good. The Politico might not think so, but I think it gets Fred to South Carolina. Frankly, regardless of the results today in Iowa (and he's going to do better than some are expecting), I think Fred Thompson needs to pull a Reagan '81 (i.e. make a big, bold "I ain't going anywhere" stand), march to South Carolina, and start...

Good morning from Des Moines. I just got off the phone with Rich Galen, a top adviser to Fred Thompson, and it would be an understatement to say that he is strongly denying the Politico story reporting that Thompson "will drop out of the race within days if he finishes poorly in Thursday's caucus." The story cites "several Republican officials close to Fred Thompson's presidential campaign." Galen told me, "I'm a Republican official in the Thompson campaign, and I'm denying it." Galen also said that no one inside the campaign was a source for the story. "I can't put enough...

Fred on FOX News earlier this morning...

Source is permitted via link only.Read article here.

GOP presidential hopeful Fred Thompson said in an in-studio interview with KCCI-TV in Des Moines that there is no truth to rumors that his campaign will fold before New Hampshire if he doesn't have a strong showing in Iowa. "That is absolutely made up out of whole cloth," said the former U.S. Senator from Tennessee. Thompson said a rival campaign was likely the source of that rumor. "Can you imagine such a thing in politics?" he asked. Thompson said his campaign is seeing a "surge" in interest right now, and said he has visited 50 communities in the Hawkeye State...

DES MOINES, Iowa -- As a noncandidate, Fred Thompson could command the Tonight Show with Jay Leno to deliver his political message. Now, the would-be savior of the conservative coalition can barely get coverage from the Des Moines Register. The Register's decision not to staff Mr. Thompson's campaign in the final days before the caucuses and rely instead on wire reports is just one of many signs that his presidential bid has skidded toward the margins amid the ice and snow of Iowa and New Hampshire. Some political observers are starting to question whether the former Tennessee senator turned actor...

DES MOINES, Iowa – Several Republican officials close to Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign said they expect the candidate will drop out of the race within days if he finishes poorly in Thursday’s Iowa caucus. Thompson’s campaign, which last spring and summer was generating fevered anticipation in the media and with some Republican activists, has never ignited nationally, and there are no signs of a late spark happening here in Iowa, where even a third-place finish is far from assured. This reality—combined with a fundraising drought—left well-connected friends and advisers of Thompson Wednesday evening predicting that he will pull the plug...

GOP presidential hopeful Fred Thompson said in an in-studio interview with KCCI-TV in Des Moines that there is no truth to rumors that his campaign will fold before New Hampshire if he doesn't have a strong showing in Iowa. "That is absolutely made up out of whole cloth," said the former U.S. Senator from Tennessee. Thompson said a rival campaign was likely the source of that rumor. "Can you imagine such a thing in politics?" he asked. Thompson said his campaign is seeing a "surge" in interest right now, and said he has visited 50 communities in the Hawkeye State...

DES MOINES, Iowa – Several Republican officials close to Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign said they expect the candidate will drop out of the race within days if he finishes poorly in Thursday’s Iowa caucus.

Iowa pastors who support Republican Mike Huckabee for president have received letters warning them that getting involved in politics could endanger the tax-exempt status of their churches. Several pastors who have publicly backed Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister who has support from many evangelicals, said they have received the letters, which have no return address. They have arrived in the weeks leading to Thursday's precinct caucuses. Two letters were sent to the Rev. Brad Sherman, of Solid Rock Christian Church in Coralville. The first arrived a couple weeks ago and warned that he could be prosecuted for his support of...

DOVER, N.H. -- Billy Shaheen, the co-chairman of Hillary Clinton's campaign in New Hampshire, raised the issue of Sen. Barack Obama's past admissions of drug use in discussing the relative electability of the Democrats seeking the presidential nomination today. *snip* Shaheen, a lawyer and influential state power broker, mentioned as an example Obama's use of cocaine and marijuana as a young man, which Obama has been open about in his memoir and on the trail. "The Republicans are not going to give up without a fight ... and one of the things they're certainly going to jump on is his...

Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, asks in an upcoming article, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?" The article, to be published in Sunday's New York Times Magazine, says Huckabee asked the question after saying he believes Mormonism is a religion but doesn't know much about it. His rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is a member of the Mormon church, which is known officially as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The authoritative Encyclopedia of Mormonism, published in 1992, does not refer to Jesus and Satan as brothers....

With the Iowa caucus on Jan. 3 and the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 8, Clinton last weekend saw Obama overtake her long-held lead in Iowa in a Des Moines Register poll. She maintains a significant lead in New Hampshire, but on Sunday began ramping up her criticism of Obama in the first-caucus state. According to news reports, she contended his positions on health care and the handling of campaign finance rules have begun to reflect on his character. Her campaign mocked Obama for saying that he wrote an essay in kindergarten entitled, "I Want to be President," and then...

It's one of a couple Obama-Muslim-smear emails circulating widely, and one of the ones Jonathan Martin and I wrote about in October. It's probably the most vicious of them: It states the underlying hint -- that Obama is some sort of Muslim Manchurian candidate -- explicitly. Let us all remain alert concerning Obama's expected presidential candidacy. The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the U.S. from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level - through the President of the United States , one of their own!!!! The email was sent by someone identified...

I guess IÂ’m not that surprised: some folks are using some underhanded push-polling to promote Huckabee. A newly-formed group claiming to support Mike Huckabee hit the phones of Iowa Republicans tonight with an automated push-poll attacking HuckabeeÂ’s GOP opponents and praising the former Arkansas governor. Officials representing the Iowa campaigns of Fred Thompson, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani all said that their supporters contacted them to complain about the calls. A spokesman for RomneyÂ’s campaign said they had gotten reports of calls, but did not know of anything negative being said about their candidate. It appears this group might be...

After a tense weekend that saw a marked escalation in an already brutal war of words between the two Democratic frontrunners, Barack Obama’s campaign launched a new salvo Monday with a Web site designed to track and respond to attacks by Hillary Clinton’s campaign. “We're asking all of you to be vigilant and notify us immediately of any attacks from Sen. Clinton or her supporters as soon as you see them so that we can respond with the truth swiftly and forcefully,” campaign spokesman Bill Burton wrote supporters. “[These] attacks could be phone calls, literature drops, blog posts, mail pieces...