Posted on 11/02/2004 12:01:02 AM PST by Founding Father
SMACKDOWN!!!!!!
FGS
Judge Partially Grants Sen. Daschle Requst
November 2, 2004 4:00 a.m. EST
By CARSON WALKER, Associated Press Writer
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A federal judge partially granted Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle's request to limit the activities of Republican poll watchers, after he accused his opponent and the GOP of intimidating American Indian voters.
The decision early Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol applies only to voters in Charles Mix County. Traditionally, Indians in South Dakota vote heavily Democratic.
As part of the ruling, Republican poll watchers are prohibited from following American Indian voters out of polling places. They are also prohibited from taking down the license plate numbers of American Indians' vehicles.
Daschle took his Republican opponent, the South Dakota Republican Party and GOP election observers to court late Monday, alleging intimidation of American Indian voters. He asked for a temporary restraining order to prevent Republicans from doing anything that would "harass, intimidate or discourage voters."
David Jordan, a volunteer Daschle poll watcher, testified at the hearing that he spent Monday at Lake Andes, a town heavily populated by Yankton Sioux, and saw GOP observers follow early Indian voters out of the polls and write down their license plate numbers. "They did it pretty much every time" an Indian voted, Jordan said.
On cross-examination, Jordan said none of the observers kept anyone from voting, spoke to any voters or wore clothing with the name of Daschle's opponent, John Thune, on it.
Joel C. Mandelman, a lawyer from Arlington, Va., testified that he was hired by the Republican National Senatorial Committee to monitor the voting because of worries about fraud. He said he believes 150 attorneys or observers are working for Republicans in eastern South Dakota and a greater number in the western part of the state on the Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations.
Mandelman testified he wrote down the license plate numbers of six or seven vehicles used to take Indians to the Charles Mix County courthouse to vote early.
Mandelman said he and another GOP lawyer went out of their way to avoid obstructing voters: "Nobody was intimidated by anything. They all voted."
Daschle, who is seeking his fourth term, and Thune, a former member of the U.S. House who unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Tim Johnson in 2002, are locked in a close race.
Yes indeedy! The latest from the blogger at the courthouse:
UPDATE: Well, over 40,000 unique hits during tonight's reporting. I'll get to all the comments at some point and all the links out there.
UPDATE: During the hearing, apparently there was discussion of the Ohio decisions. But then the GOP lawyers noted that they had been reversed. Oops.
UPDATE: The GOP lawyers also emphasized that the Deanic had a feeling there might be a problem somewhere even though they presented no direct evidence and no direct witnesses involving anybody actually saying they felt intimidated. The Deaniac took a beating on the stand. The reporters writing in are embarassed for the Daschle campaign that their case was based on eye-rolling and note-taking and a few voter van license plates being written down after people had voted.
UPDATE: More in the morning on all this. Thanks for tuning in.
Posted by Jon Lauck on November 01, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0)
FGS
Simply awsome!
Ha...Ha...Ha...The crook lost!...to bad for numb nuts..L.O.L.
Just wait. The day's still young.
He still has one more big loss left in him yet, I'm thinkin'. :)
I'm so damned uptight right now I can't sleep. I think the sad by from the Dakotas is gonna be asking wifey for lunch money starting tomorrow.
I can see no more compelling evidence of an impending Thune win better than Daschle suing his opponent at sundown on election eve.
Some democrats are subhuman & vile. I hope they cut away to the Daschle concession/psychological bloodletting speech tonight.
So, what we need is people with photographic memories, right?
Talk about 50,000 rpm spin
Anyone other than the "official" pubbies can record this info. It shouldn't be hard to do without giving the recordees any clue, with a well concealed digital camera.
"ostentatiously taking notes"
ROFL!
Hallelujah, baby---I'm marching with you!
Good way to start off the day!
And a great day it will be!!
Wonder if they can find a Libertarian that would record those licence plate numbers?
YIPPEE! Apparently SD judges aren't corrupt like Florida's.
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