Posted on 11/20/2002 2:30:31 PM PST by sweetliberty
Yeah, it's like this stuff falls into a black hole after the fact. Pubbie Big "Jawn" Warner was committee chair back then(Yep, Pubbies were in charge); many of the usual suspects remain the same....something like musical chairs. Found these:
Louisiana Senate, 1996: It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over
By Stuart Rothenberg
A couple of months ago, I wouldn't have given a nickel for Republican Woody Jenkins' chances of overturning his November loss to Democrat Mary Landrieu. Now I might even give you a dime. That's still not much, but the change does reflect recent developments in the United States Senate, which give new hope to Jenkins' supporters and new reason for concern by Landrieu and her Democratic colleagues.
While Landrieu was certified by the Louisiana secretary of state (a Republican, incidentally) as the winner of the state's 1996 Senate race and seated by the United States Senate, Jenkins continues to argue that massive vote fraud, supported by an allegedly corrupt Louisiana politician and his organization, denied him of a victory that he earned.
But the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, chaired by Sen. John Warner (R-VA), decided not to accept the findings of a bipartisan team of attorneys, Democrat Bob Bauer and Republican Bill Canfield, who conducted an inquiry into Jenkins' charges before recommending to the committee that it continue with a "preliminary" and "limited" investigation.
I assumed -- as did other Congress-watchers and pundits -- that Warner, a GOP moderate, wouldn't want the Louisiana Senate inquiry to drag on for months, especially if it enhanced the chances that Jenkins, whose views place him at the conservative end of the Republican party, would become a member of the Senate, where he could make Warner's life miserable. But Warner joined all of the other Republicans on the committee in voting to begin a much broader investigation of the Louisiana Senate race than Bauer and Canfield had recommended. And Warner appointed a Republican-dominated team of attorneys to pursue the investigation.
Democrats are clearly angry about the committee's decision, and Landrieu appears to be a bit shaken by the developments. For the moment, however, they can only sit by, watch and wait.
But while Jenkins has met with unexpected success to this point and could ultimately change the way elections in Louisiana are conducted (some observers in the state are suggesting that New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, whose political organization is a powerhouse in the city, could be the big loser after the investigation), it's still not clear that the Senate will ever seat the Republican.
In order for Jenkins to win his argument, the Senate would have to vote to remove Landrieu and seat him. That means Democrats could mount a filibuster, arguing that the Republicans were simply involved in a political power play to add to their majority. In addition, they'd likely portray any Republican effort as an assault against women, since Landrieu is one of only a handful of women in the United States Senate. Finally, they'd likely charge that the effort to seat Jenkins was masterminded by extremists, since the Republican Senate hopeful has been an ally of the religious right for years.
But if the Democrats adopt that strategy, they run a considerable risk. If the Republicans can document vote fraud, they can claim the moral high ground, forcing the Democrats either to accept Jenkins's election or call a new election, or to defend a corrupt election outcome.
Still, Senate Democrats can't allow Landrieu to be replaced with Jenkins, and they probably would do whatever they had to in order to block any GOP effort to overturn the results. That's why Jenkins still has an uphill battle to make it to the Senate. But the hill doesn't seem to be as big as it was a few months ago, and that, in itself, is remarkable.
And this from Citizens for a Better America
Group formally requests the following U.S. Senators on the Rules committee to investigate this matter fully and immediately:
Alaska - Stevens, California - Feinstein, Connecticut - Dodd, Hawaii - Inouye, Kentucky - Ford (Ranking Democrat) and McConnell, Mississippi - Cochran and Lott, New Jersey - Torricelli, New York - Moynihan, North Carolina - Helms, Oklahoma - Nickles, Pennsylvania - Santorum, Texas - Hutchison, Virginia - Warner (Chairman), West Virginia - Byrd.
FGS
What a classic moment that was. I think that was the point that the Rats officially started freaking out. They'd never seen conservatives behave that way. Suddenly, when our side used tactics that they thought were reserved exclusively for them, we were suddenly an "unruly Republican MOB." LOL! I loved it. Even Jesse Jackass was p*ssed!
"...why would conservatives regularly donate to a website with a Stalinesque reputation for sanitizing their members’ commentary?
"...Many readers of Scallon’s piece will be surprised to learn that the operation of the Free Republic website requires an estimated $240,000 in donations annually from readers. The Freepers donate that kind of money because they really are convinced and excited (read: deluded) that they are "piece of the action." They really believe that their online (and off-line) advocacy and organizing efforts are effecting political change. They like the idea that they are "part of the system" and on the side of a winning majority now that the GOP has re-taken the Senate and Bush sits in the Oval Office. To swipe a phrase from Jesse Jackson, it "keeps hope alive." And hope is the archetypal political opiate, rendering populations docile and leaving them unwilling to decisively act to change their circumstances. The Freepers feel as though they’re connected and influential, but they don’t seem to realize that this is largely an illusion. The GOP’s hierarchy already has its marching orders, independent of the input of the GOP grassroots. The GOP’s top brass merely pretends that it cares about the "regular folk" at Free Republic. The GOP is always glad to take their money and their votes, though, and is equally happy to use Free Republic as a distribution node for official party "talking points."
"Some alert Freepers [Names, Please!!], however, sense that the GOP they work so hard to support is not very responsive to the conservative agenda."
The writer of this drivel is an anti-FReeper pencil-necked GEEK named Paul Fallavollita, and he can be reached at pfallavollita@aol.com
Tell 'em MUD sent ya...LOL!!!
I have been saving all the links I can, in hopes someone with a lot more smarts that I have can archive all this.
What I mean by that is, we now have their names, we now know they've been getting letters (like the one you posted FGS) demanding they address election fraud.
We, at some time in the future, can refer to those letters and our knowledge of those letters, in letter writing campaigns (i.e., to the Senate Committee Members, to other Senators, to Representatives, to the media), and let these senators know we will bring it to the attention of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, FOX's News, etc., if you get my drift.
* 1996/2001 (* - indicates member of Committee in 1996 and 2001)
Democrats:
Chairman, Chris Dodd, * CT
Robert C. Byrd *
Daniel K. Inouye *
Dianne Feinstein *
Robert G. Torricelli *
Charles E. Schumer
John B. Breaux
Tom Daschle
Mark Dayton
Richard J. Durbin
Republicans:
Ranking Member, Mitch McConnell *, KY
John W. Warner *
Jesse Helms *
Ted Stevens *
Thad Cochran *
Rick Santorum *
Don Nickles *
Trent Lott *
Kay Bailey Hutchison *
Always a clown in every crowd, lol. I can't do it. Let's just say I'm handicapped with photographic interpretation. My motto would best be: I report, you decide. : )
Great idea, Lion! (We could start another thread near election, posting County links and requesting FReepers sign up on the link to be a contact; then they could contact their own counties, advising their county officials of this fact. Of course, they'd have to report back and tell us all about their adventures!)
I also clicked on several county sites and it was great...lot's of names, e-mail addresses, demographic info., chambers of commerce info., depending on the county. This will really help. Plus, those counties will update their sites, I'm sure, on a regular basis--whis is also very very good.
Nick, dio, franc, there are some great ideas posted on this thread. Y'all might want check out the posts from time to time. For now see post #'s 354, 358, 369 and 376. Franc, I thought those might be some good links for you to work with on the database idea.
I figure if I help make your job easier, you won't try to get me to do it (or quit), lol! (Just kidding.) You're doing super, sweetliberty.
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