Posted on 06/20/2003 6:40:43 AM PDT by bedolido
SAN FRANCISCO (Talon News) -- Democrat presidential hopefuls Howard Dean and Richard Gephardt clashed this week, charging vote rigging for an online poll that has not even begun. At stake is the support of an organization with 1.4 million members who donated $4.1 million to congressional candidates.
Dean yesterday released a statement from the campaign trail defending the virtual Democrat primary MoveOn.org will be hosting next week. "MoveOn has done more to get people involved and to give them a voice in the political process than any other organization in recent memory," Dean said. "To question the integrity of MoveOn and its 1.4 million members is outrageous and only serves to further erode the American people's belief that their voices matter. People in Washington wonder why so many have been turning away from the political process. This type of baseless accusation only gives them one more reason to tune out."
Dean's support of Moveon.com was made following a charge from the Gephardt campaign that MoveOn has fixed the "political favorite" poll before the first vote has been cast by skewing it in favor of Dean. "We think there is a legitimate role for MoveOn to organize grass-roots support for candidates, but we are worried that it appears they are playing favorites," said Erik Smith, a Gephardt campaign staffer.
The issue as far as the Gephardt campaign is concerned is the e-mail that MoveOn sent to all who registered for the voting to support Gov. Dean.
MoveOn officials told the AP the e-mail was sent because Dean had finished among the top three in a survey conducted by the web site last month. Sen. John Kerry and Rep. Dennis Kucinich also had an opportunity to have the site send out a similar pleading note. Kerry's went out Thursday and Kucinich will be sent Friday.
The online primary will start accepting votes next Tuesday at midnight and last for 48 hours. Any candidate receiving more than 50 percent will be endorsed by MoveOn and its membership will be urged to support that candidate.
MoveOn's web site states: "In most presidential primary processes, pundits, pollsters and wealthy donors determine the outcome long before the actual primaries. By the time the rest of us cast our ballots, the nomination is typically a done deal. The MoveOn.org PAC Primary will allow hundreds of thousands of voters to speak out now, adding their weight to the campaigns of their choice."
MoveOn.org was an outspoken critic of U.S. actions in Iraq and the Bush administration in general. MoveOn Directors signed a letter for their site that states: "We'll throw out Bush and the Republicans using every means available: by registering a wave of new voters, by organizing to make sure they get to the polls on election day, by raising enough money to compete with the President's mountain of special interest money, and by volunteering for political campaigns. We'll make it easy for you to play a part."
Copyright © 2003 Talon News -- All rights reserved.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.