Ohio Nastiness

The Ohio Secretary of State website was temporarily taken off line yesterday after a security incident. The State Highway Patrol has now launched an investigation after a breach was detected late Monday. According to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the action was taken "to protect state records and data" and "the vote of every eligible Ohio voter from any kind of fraud".

It's been a rocky week for Brunner. Her office has also received several threatening phone calls as well as a suspicious package containing a white powder. A call to Brunner's office produced little additional detail. They would not elaborate on the security breach or the nature of the threatening calls. The website is now back up and running.

The Secretary of State's office and the state Republican Party have faced off in recent weeks over a handful of voting issues. The core of the argument centers on some 200,000 newly registered Ohio voters whose registration information doesn't jive with state or federal databases. The state GOP is pushing for an investigation into possible fraud. The two sides have been in and out of several courtrooms lately, capped last Thursday by an appeal to the US Supreme Court. The high court, acting unanimously, sided with Brunner by tossing out the lower court ruling.

-- Sean Bowditch

5:51 PM ET | 10-21-2008 | permalink

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Early Voting in Florida Starts Today

As early voting begins, the state elections office released new registration figures that show Democrats now have a 658,000 vote advantage over Republicans in Florida. Since the last presidential election, Democrats have registered more than twice the number of new voters than Republicans.

And now that Florida is officially open for business, you better believe the campaigns are on the ground:

The McCain campaign is being represented by Meghan McCain, the senator's daughter. She's holding a series of events in central Florida.

Meanwhile, the Obama campaign is blanketing the state with events from Miami to the panhandle. Barack Obama and company -- including Michelle Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson -- are holding voter rallies. At some events, they'll be joined by Republican Sen. Mel Martinez.

Polls show Obama with a lead here in Florida -- a state that went for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

-- Greg Allen

10:24 AM ET | 10-20-2008 | permalink

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Welcome to Logan, West Virginia

First, cue the music:

We recorded this bluegrass session in Logan, a small town nestled deep in the rolling hills of southern West Virginia. The leaves are on the cusp of all-out autumn -- oranges, reds, yellows, and some green -- and a thick fog envelops all of it in the evening. Downtown, train tracks crisscross the one-way streets, and the Guyandotte River flows slowly under an old, rusted trestle and past rows of houses, an Exxon station, a bowling alley, a hair salon, a barber shop, and a couple of five and dime stores.

Bush won this state in 2000 and 2004. We're here because West Virginia -- like many red states from the last election -- seems to be up for grabs. No Democrat has won the White House without West Virginia since 1916. That's a factoid that Hillary Clinton liked to point out during the primaries, questioning whether Obama could pick up this state. (Clinton, it should be noted, enjoyed an overwhelming victory in that primary.) And until a week or so ago, it seemed like McCain was on track to win here this November, but recent polling data suggests a tighter-than-expected race.

David Greene was traveling with the Clinton campaign when she visited Logan last May, and he witnessed the energy and volume of her supporters here. That's why we've picked this town: to see how those former Clinton voters are feeling about the election. While here, we've met people like Paul Hardesty, a consultant who lives in town. He told us he voted for Clinton in the primary but will support Obama in two weeks. And we met Judy Baisden, who works the register at one of the two bowling alleys downtown. She's a lifelong Democrat and wonders if her grandfather is rolling in his grave now that she's considering McCain. Both Judy and Paul are featured in David's story from yesterday's All Things Considered.

Back to the music...

David Gilkey/NPR

 

Last night we drove into the state park and visited with a large group of people who gather there for bluegrass and country music. Trucks and vans were parked in a mud and gravel-filled lot. They call the gathering Pickers in the Park and said they get together once a week to play music.

A light rain didn't stop a few people from standing outside under umbrellas, chatting around a picnic table. Crystal Brewster demonstrates her recent progress on the fiddle while Don Cavell shields her from the rain.

David Gilkey/NPR

 

The building where they meet isn't fully constructed yet -- pink insulation hangs from rough beams. Two women clogged on a stack of drywall sheets. Some of the strummers were perched on buckets.

After the jump, more music...

Continue reading "Welcome to Logan, West Virginia" »

12:53 PM ET | 10-18-2008 | permalink

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Things Heat Up in Ohio

The battle over Ohio's newly registered voters is intensifying. Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, is now appealing yesterday's ruling by the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal was filed directly with Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens who oversees the 6th Circuit Court. As NPR's Libby Lewis reported this morning, the language in the appeal is dramatic. An excerpt: "Ohio Secretary of state Jennifer Brunner urgently asks this court to restore order to Ohio's election."

Yesterday's 9-6 decision required the Secretary of State's office to provide each of Ohio's 88 election boards access to a database that contains names of new voters whose registration information doesn't jive with state or federal databases. The ruling is considered a victory for the Ohio Republican Party. As I noted in yesterday's post, it's unclear how -- and when -- the counties will proceed.

-- Sean Bowditch

UPDATE: The SCOTUSblog weighs in: "Justice Stevens may act without asking state GOP officials to respond, or wait until there is a response. He also has the option of sharing a decision with his Court colleagues, or acting alone."

1:32 PM ET | 10-16-2008 | permalink

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Gettin' Messy in Ohio

Ohio is proving to be a battleground state in more ways than one. The Ohio Republican Party and the Secretary of State's office continue to feud over thousands of newly registered voters -- 600,000 since January, according to the AP. In the most recent development, the Ohio GOP is requesting from the state's 88 county election boards the registration records of thousands of voters who registered and cast ballots in the state during a seven-day window earlier this month.

This move comes on the heels of yesterday's court ruling. The full 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals said Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must provide each election board access to a database listing those new voters whose registration information does not jive with other state or federal databases. That number is estimated to be around 200,000. This decision reverses the finding of a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit Court issued last week. Brunner must comply with the order by Friday.

Complicated, I know. But the central question remains: what now? There's no easy answer. It's unclear what county election officials will do with the information once they get it and, perhaps more to the point, what Brunner will advise them to do. And the clock is ticking. Loudly.

h/t NPR's Pam Fessler

-- Sean Bowditch

7:44 PM ET | 10-15-2008 | permalink

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Shifting Resources; Early Trend?

Here are two tidbits I thought I would toss out there...

Politico's Jonathan Martin blogs that the RNC's independent arm is pulling its ads in Maine and a few in Wisconsin and reassigning the resources to Colorado and Missouri. In fact, Martin points out that this marks the first time McCain will have a presence on the airwaves in Missouri. This is simply more evidence that McCain is fighting for his political life: he's been forced into a defensive posture in several traditionally red states, while pulling up stakes in blue states he was hoping to wrestle away from Obama.

Meanwhile, over at 538.com, Nate Silver is poring over a slew of new data. Survey2000 just finished up a series of surveys in five battleground states where some form of early voting took place (NM, OH, GA, IA, and NC). Bottomline: Obama is leading by an average of 23 points. That's a big number. However, Silver rightly warns against taking these numbers too seriously. They're estimates after all. But, if only remotely accurate, this bucks a long-standing trend; historically, early voting favors Republicans. In early polling in 2000 and 2004, Bush led 62.2 percent and 60.4 percent, respectively. Silver also notes that early voters tend to be older and predominantly male, two factors that would seem to leave Obama at a disadvantage.

-- Sean Bowditch

7:21 PM ET | 10-15-2008 | permalink

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Michigan Seems Like A Dream To Me Now

FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver points out a new Rasmussen poll out of Michigan -- the first numbers from the Wolverine State since McCain pulled out last week -- that gives Obama a 16-point advantage in the onetime battleground. A month ago, Rasmussen had Obama up by seven in Michigan and the RealClearPolitics average had Obama up by three there. Sarah Palin and the local party apparatus have tried to soothe the state's GOP abandonment issues, but this new poll suggests that their efforts have been insufficient. As Silver observes, "voters really, really don't like it when you blow off their state." On the other hand, they seem to have gotten over the Democrats bailing on the state's rule-breaking primary...

Meanwhile, with McCain overtly out of the picture in Michigan, Obama won't need to fight as hard there either. That means he may ease up on campaign visits and downsize his ad buys to focus on states with closer contests. Grand Rapids, we hardly knew ye.

-- Evie Stone

4:07 PM ET | 10- 9-2008 | permalink

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Voters on the NC-SC Fence

Question: where do these people vote?

View Larger Map

Undeniably, North Carolina voters stand to play a larger role in choosing the next president. So if you're a homeowner living in a sub-development like this one near Charlotte, with land in both states, do you get to choose where to send your kids to school, where to pay taxes -- and where to vote? And if you fall on the South Carolina side, are you jealous that your neighbor's vote might count just a little bit more this year? I would be. (Full disclosure: I'm from South Carolina... but not from anywhere near this neighborhood.)

Perhaps there are other examples out there... on the Ohio-Kentucky or Pennsylvania-New York border maybe?

-- Thomas Pierce

3:36 PM ET | 10- 9-2008 | permalink

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Fight For Your Right to Palin

Sarah Palin questioned the McCain campaign decision to pull out of Michigan with an email saying, 'Oh come on, do we have to?' and Palin isn't the only one questioning the campaign's choice to leave Michigan behind. Now Kent County Republican Chair Sam Moore is taking the gloves off (mostly because it is difficult to type with them on). Moore is amassing an army of pro-Palin Michiganders that he hopes will entice Palin to visit the state. He says he hasn't had contact with the McCain campaign, but he's confident that if he can collect 100,000 signatures of Michigan voters Palin will come. He tells Vox Politics, "We are doing whatever it takes to deliver the state" for the GOP ticket. And Moore adds that McCain's decision to pull out of the state has actually helped increase activity in the state Party office in Grand Rapids: "It's been busier here in the last week than it was in the past several weeks."

Not to be outdone, the Michigan Democratic Party has created its own petition, calling for Tina Fey to visit the state.

h/t Rick Pluta

-- Michael Olson

7:40 PM ET | 10- 8-2008 | permalink

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Palin Shakes Up McCain Camp

Before Sarah Palin shakes up Washington, she seems inclined to shake up the McCain camp. The Alaska Gov. tells Fox News that she disagrees with the decision to remove staff and resources out of Michigan.

When she learned of the plans for Michigan Palin said she "fired off a quick e-mail and said, 'Oh come on, do we have to?'

Palin isn't the only Gov. questioning the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan. The state's Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm also called for McCain to stick around Michigan -- albeit in a sarcastic plea to Michigan Radio:

"A candidate who is so out of touch on the economy as John McCain, who thinks the fundamentals of our economy are strong, however he wants to spin that, he could benefit from being here, and listening to Michigan."

Democrats ignored Michigan in the primary after the state bucked party rules and scheduled a primary before February 5th. At the time there were fears that Michigan voters would bear a grudge into the fall, but recent polls suggest that's not happening. Maybe the McCain camp is taking a lesson from the Democrats and hoping they'll pique some interest if they play hard to get?

-- Michael Olson

3:54 PM ET | 10- 3-2008 | permalink

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Welcome To Uniontown, Pennsylvania

With Pennsylvania arguably up for grabs, all eyes are on voters in places like Uniontown, a city in the southwestern corner of the state. Fayette County has voted dependably Democratic for decades. Hillary Clinton received nearly 80% of the county's votes in the primary, but at the time, she hinted that counties like this could be vulnerable if she didn't get the nomination.

And so we visited the area this week to find out if people truly are second-guessing their traditional party affiliations. We also ate a lot of raw corn. David Greene has a story on All Things Considered this afternoon about the people (and the corn) we encountered. Here's some more of what we saw:

Uniontown's city center has been revitalized in recent years, old and new interspersed: internet cafe, restaurants, gift shops, dive bars, churches, and a CVS.

David Gilkey/NPR

 

The coal boom in Uniontown, Pennsylvania ended in the 1950s, but as little as five years ago, the church spires and domes of downtown were still dark with soot. The coal mined here was heated in coke ovens and sent to Pittsburgh as fuel for the steel mills. At the peak of the coal boom, Uniontown was home to quite a few millionaires, but the mines are now depleted.
These days, other industries have moved in to take the place of the mines -- a defense contractor employs some 300 people in stripping down and repairing Bradley Fighting Vehicles. The hospital is another major employer.

Continue reading "Welcome To Uniontown, Pennsylvania" »

7:36 PM ET | 10- 2-2008 | permalink

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