Yeah, I saw the numbers, but that is only part of what we need to SUCCESSFULLY protect the votes as opposed to trying and failing.
We need the whole chain of people. We need to identify the people who signed the phony registrations, the folks who sent out the forged absentee applications, the folks who either winked at or authorized the effort, even some of the folks who fradulently voted - we need ALL of that to PROVE this case. And it needs to come form a source that the average person will believe is CREDIBLE and UNBIASED. That rules out the Thune campaign, the state GOP in South Dakota, the RNC, and the NRSC. The good news is that the DNC, the state Democratic Party, the Johnson Campaign, and the DSCC are also ruled out - heck the state Democratic party is under FBI investigation in this - and has been SINCE OCTOBER.
The best course is to let the FBI and other investigators do their job. If you have information like the numebrs on this thread, SEND IT TO THE FBI AND THE STATE INVESTIGATORS, with a copy to the Thune campaign. But let them do their jobs.
Doing this RIGHT beats doing it QUICK. Being thorough and conducting it with class beats being aggressive about this. For all their missteps, the FBI is still among the best investigative agencies in the world, and I'm VERY sure they can quantify the fraud, and ID the perps.
The Dems have set this up so that if the GOP goes in, they play the race card against the Republicans. But one of their operatives screwed up and got caught last month, and the FBI was called in to investigate. (National Review is reporting on that here:
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-lauck102902.asp if you'd like to look it over.)
The RNC can best protect people who voted for Thune's votes by letting the FBI do its job. The Senate Republicans can help by CONDITIONALLY seating Johnson pending the outcome of the FBI investigation. When the FBI gets the results of the investigation (which I am DARN sure WILL prove have the whole chain - the number of questionable applications, the activists, the supervisors, and all rest of the EVIDENCE), THEN the Republicans in the Senate can act by seating Thune or declaring a vacancy.
It comes down to this question: Who is Joe Schmoe, an average American who doesn't pay attention to politics until after the World Series, going to believe in this matter, the RNC, the DNC, or the FBI?
I'd put my money on the FBI - they are the only entity of the three that does NOT have a vested interest in the outcome of this matter. The RNC and the DNC do. If we do this right, we not ONLY protect the votes and get the seat, we also take down an entire vote fraud operation and send a message to others. I want SUCCESS, not a brave but badly-implemented ATTEMPT.
We'll just have to see. But as I recall, no one went to jail for the fraud in Florida two years ago, no one went to jail for the fraud in Missouri two years ago, no one went to jail for the fraud in LA when Dornan got screwed. I ain't holding my breath. But if they want me to keep votin' they need to wake up.