Free Republic

On the eve of the Democratic convention, Trib colleague David M. Brown reported that Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign paid more than $800,000 to an offshoot of ACORN for services the Democrat's campaign says it “mistakenly misrepresented” in finance reports. An Obama spokesman said then that the FEC reports would be amended to show Citizens Services Inc. -- a subsidiary of ACORN -- worked in "get-out-the-vote" projects. The original FEC finance reports listed the ACORN underling activities as polling, advance work and staging major events.

Barack Obama took time out from debate preparations today to weigh in on the increasingly loud controversy over an activist group's voter registration drive. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as ACORN, claims to have registered 1.3 million young people, minorities, and working-class voters. But some of those registration cards have listed dead or nonexistent people and are being investigated in at least eight states. Republican John McCain, and today his running mate Sarah Palin, have called on Obama to take control of ACORN's activities. “Obama has a responsibility to rein in ACORN and prove that he...

TOLEDO, Ohio (AFP) – Barack Obama's White House campaign charged Tuesday that desperate Republicans were waging a nationwide campaign orchestrated with John McCain's staff to intimidate voters and depress turnout. Top aides to the Democrat battled back against what they called a Republican "smokescreen" over a liberal advocacy group called ACORN, which is under investigation in several states over allegations of voter registration fraud. The group released a video, set to the song "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," showing McCain warmly greeting its activists at a February 2006 event in support of immigration reform. Obama said his own ties to...