Barack Obama has a coal problem. Responding to yesterday’s revelation that Barack Obama intends to bankrupt all plants that operate on energy generated from coal, Chris Hamilton, the Senior Vice President of the West Virginia Coal Association, called Obama’s comments in San Francisco “unbelievable.” I quote the West Virginia Record:

The senior vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association called Obama’s comments “unbelievable.”

“His comments are unfortunate,” Chris Hamilton said Sunday, “and really reflect a very uninformed voice and perspective to coal specifically and energy generally.”

Hamilton noted other times Obama and vice presidential candidate Joe Biden have made seemingly anti-coal statements.

“In Ohio recently, when Joe Biden said ‘not here’ about building coal-fired power plants — this is exactly what will happen,” Hamilton said. “Financing won’t be directed here. It will all go aboard for plants elsewhere in the world. The United Sates is importing more coal today from Indonesia, South Africa and Colombia than we ever have.

“If we’re going to create a situation where coal-fired power plants are at that much of a disadvantage, there will be new ones built. But as Biden said, just not here.”

In other words, the workers of West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, Montana and all the other states in which coal is mined, processed and converted to electricity should be prepared to have their jobs outsourced under an Obama Presidency. That is not the change the economically battered Ohio River Valley needs. It is also not the change those of us who consume electricity need. Just imagine the cost of our energy bills if coal plants, which generates 49% of our electricity, are bankrupted and eliminated.

American Girl in Italy asks No Quarter readers to disseminate the following recording of Barack Obama’s statement on bankrupting coal plants far and wide.

And I offer more information on who will be affected by Obama’s reckless energy policy in an essay I published yesterday.

Clearly Obama’s statements will have electoral effects in West Virginia, where he has already garnered opposition from leaders of the industry that is that state’s main economic engine. But we must ensure voters in Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania are armed with these facts before they cast votes tomorrow.

Sarah Palin is doing everything within her power to ensure voters in the Ohio River Valley understand the implications and ramifications of Obama’s desire to bankrupt plants relying on energy produced from coal. I quote CBS News:

(MARIETTA, OHIO) – Seizing on a newly released audio tape picked up by the Drudge Report, Sarah Palin took the opportunity here in coal country to accuse Barack Obama of “talking about bankrupting the coal industry.”

“He said that, sure, if the industry wants to build coal-fired power plants, then they can go ahead and try, he says, but they can do it only in a way that will bankrupt the coal industry, and he’s comfortable letting that happen,” Palin said. “And you got to listen to the tape.”

The audiotape Palin was referring to was recorded by the San Francisco Chronicle in a Jan. 17 interview.

“Why is the audiotape just now surfacing?” Palin asked, leading someone in the crowd to shout, “Liberal media!”

“This interview was given to San Francisco folks many, many months ago,” Palin said. “You should have known about this, so that you would have better decision-making information as you go into the voting booth.”

Marietta, Ohio, is located on the Ohio River on the border between Ohio and West Virginia. This is the perfect place to discuss Obama’s desire to bankrupt the coal industry, for many of the workers in that city and its environs earn their wages in mines and in factories reliant on coal.

And Sarah and the audience in Marietta, Ohio, are correct: we only learned about this now as a result of the venal and obsequious media’s suppression of any and all information that is unfavorable to Barack Obama. Just witness CNN’s attempt to minimize the importance of this story:

Contrary to her attempts to portray a media cover-up, audio and video recordings of Obama’s January 17 sit-down with the Chronicle editorial board have been freely available online for more than nine months.

In the interview, Obama said that his “aggressive” cap-and-trade plan would charge polluters for every unit of carbon or greenhouse gas they emit, a plan that would render polluting coal plants financially unviable.

“So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can,” he said. “It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”

In the interview, Obama also made the case for alternative energy sources, adding that he does not believe coal production will be eliminated, and that he supports carbon capture and sequestration technologies.

John McCain also supports a market-based cap-and-trade proposal to reduce carbon emissions.

Regardless, Palin sought to use Obama’s words against him in a part of the country where coal has long been king.

“He said that, sure, if the industry wants to build coal-fired power plants, then they can go ahead and try, he says, but they can do it only in a way that will bankrupt the coal industry, and he’s comfortable letting that happen.”

The media, it seems, will not inform working class voters of Obama’s attempts to eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs and raise our electricity bills. But Sarah Palin and those who care about the economy of West Virginia and other states in the Ohio River Valley will. And so will we, for we understand that the elimination of jobs in a region of a country Obama already insulted with his comments in San Francisco about those bitter small town voters in Pennsylvania and Ohio who cling to guns and religion will not solve America’s economic woes. Indeed, it will only exacerbate the current recession.

Let us stand with West Virginia and the Ohio River Valley and defend those who rely on coal for their economic livelihood. This is certainly what Hillary would do. I quote the Sun-Times article I cite above:

After the quotes [about "bitter clingers"] surfaced on a political blog Friday, Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and GOP hopeful John McCain immediately decried them as evidence that Obama is “elitist” or “out of touch.”

“My opponent said that the people of Pennsylvania who faced hard times are bitter. Well, that’s not my experience,” Clinton told a crowd in Philadelphia. “As I travel around Pennsylvania, I meet people who are resilient, who are optimistic, who are positive, who are rolling up their sleeves … Pennsylvanians don’t need a president who looks down on them, they need a president who stands up for them.”

And yes, Barack Obama is an elitist politician who “looks down on” voters in the Ohio River Valley and in other areas of the country that rely on coal. Hillary Clinton does not, and neither does John McCain. Here is John McCain yesterday campaigning in Pennsylvania:

SCRANTON, Pa. — Campaigning in coal-rich Pennsylvania, GOP presidential nominee John McCain pledged this afternoon that if elected president, he would ensure that the U.S. exports coal overseas — something that U.S. policy already permits.

At the same time, the McCain campaign and Republican National Committee reportedly launched robocalls in Ohio, Pennsylvania and other coal states attacking Sen. Barack Obama’s position on coal.

Mocking Obama for a comment he made in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle in January — “The only thing I’ve said with respect to coal, I haven’t been some coal booster,” Obama had said — McCain promised the audience at the University of Scranton that he’s been a proud coal cheerleader in the past, and plans to be one in the future.

“My friends, you know what Senator Obama said about a year ago, he said he had not been a, quote, coal booster,” he said, as the crowd booed. “My friends, I’ve been a coal booster and it’s going to create jobs, and we’re going to export coal to other countries and we are going to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. That’s going to help restore the economy of the great state of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

The robocalls have been placed, but we must ensure the voters understand that Obama desires to bankrupt the coal industry and increase the prices of our energy bills. We have one day, and this must be done. Circulate the video I cite above.

———————————————-

[UPDATE]: Ohio Coal Association issues a scathing statement on Barack Obama’s statement. I quote:

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov 03, 2008 /PRNewswire–USNewswire via COMTEX/ — Mike Carey, president of the Ohio Coal Association (OCA), today issued the following statement in response to just-released remarks from Senator Barack Obama about the nation’s coal industry.

“Regardless of the timing or method of the release of these remarks, the message from the Democratic candidate for President could not be clearer: the Obama-Biden ticket spells disaster for America’s coal industry and the tens of thousands of Americans who work in it.

“These undisputed, audio-taped remarks, which include comments from Senator Obama like ‘I haven’t been some coal booster’ and ‘if they want to build [coal plants], they can, but it will bankrupt them’ are extraordinarily misguided.
“It’s evident that this campaign has been pandering in states like Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana and Pennsylvania to attempt to generate votes from coal supporters, while keeping his true agenda hidden from the state’s voters.

“Senator Obama has revealed himself to be nothing more than a short- sighted, inexperienced politician willing to say anything to get a vote. But today, the nation’s coal industry and those who support it have a better understanding of his true mission, to ‘bankrupt’ our industry, put tens of thousands out of work and cause unprecedented increases in electricity prices.

“In addition to providing an affordable, reliable source of low-cost electricity, domestic coal holds the key to our nation’s long-term energy security – a goal that cannot be overlooked during this time of international instability and economic uncertainty.

“Few policy areas are more important to our economic future than energy issues. As voters head to the polls tomorrow, it is essential they remember that access to reliable, affordable, domestic energy supplies is essential to economic growth and stability.”

The Ohio Coal Association (OCA) is a non-profit trade association representing the interests of Ohio’s underground and surface coal mining producers. The OCA represents nearly 40 coal producing companies and more than 50 Associate Members, which include suppliers and consultants to the mining industry, coal sales agents and brokers and allied industries. The Ohio Coal Association is committed to advancing the development and utilization of Ohio coal as an abundant, economic and environmentally sound energy source.

Representing 40 coal producing companies and more than 50 associate members in related industries, the OCA will deliver many Ohio votes to John McCain.

Words do matter, I guess.

As you probably also know, Mr. Fund has written a book, “Stealing Elections, Revised and Updated: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy.”

In 20 minutes following publication of this story — at 3:00 a.m. ET (Monday, Nov. 3, 2008) — BookTV.org (C-Span2) is airing a one-hour speech and Q&A with John Fund.

You may also watch the video at any time here at BookTV.org.

What else is going on so early in the morning? Have you caught the latest on the breaking news about Obama’s intentions to bankrupt coal-reliant businesses and industries? NOTE the states listed above in the categories; workers and businesses in all of those states, and more, could be devastated by Obama’s schemes.

Here’s what we know so far:

Among the LATEST NEWS: Sarah Palin is speaking out about Barack Obama and coal, according to Memeorandum.com.

If you missed our reporting on this breaking story, please check out:

• Truthteller’s Sunday afternoon story, “MEMO to Voters in States Producing and Relying On Coal: Obama Intends to Bankrupt Your Businesses and Your Industries,” and
• American Girl in Italy’s call to action, “ACTION ALERT – Obama has promised to bankrupt coal plants.”

We hope to publish more on this “hot” story later today.

Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Texas, Montana, Illinois, Virginia, North Dakota, Colorado, Indiana, New Mexico, Utah, Ohio, Alabama and Arizona: these coal producing states will be adversely affected by Barack Obama’s energy policy.

Imagine mines closing, factories closing, jobs lost, towns abandoned, small businesses failing, pensions lost, wages dropping and widespread economic depression in states that rely on coal mining and processing. This is what Obama’s cap and trade system will engender in states such as WV, PA, MT, VA, ND, CO, IN, NM, OH and AZ. Just listen to this audio of Obama discussing how he will bankrupt factories and businesses that rely on power generated from coal when he was interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle in January 2008:

[[[TAKE ACTION!! RIGHT NOW!
Start posting this video on sites in the coal based states: Virginia, Montana, Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, North Dakota, New Mexico, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado.]]]

Here is the transcript:

Let me sort of describe my overall policy.

What I’ve said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else’s out there.

I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.

That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches.

The only thing I’ve said with respect to coal, I haven’t been some coal booster. What I have said is that for us to take coal off the table as a ideological matter as opposed to saying if technology allows us to use coal in a clean way, we should pursue it.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can.

It’s just that it will bankrupt them.“

Does Obama realize the number of jobs lost when he arrogantly states that plants will be bankrupted under his energy policy? Does he not understand the number of lives affected?

The Ohio River Basin is one area of the country that will be decimated as a result of Obama’s desire to bankrupt plants relying on coal.

And while the economy of the Ohio River Valley is decimated, the following regions of the country will witness no job growth, as the following proposed plants will never be built:

Permits for these proposed plants have already been cancelled:

The West will also be adversely affected by Obama’s reckless energy policy:

Bankrupting an entire industry will destroy the lives of Americans across the country. Both coal produces and consumers will have to fire employees, and this will create widespread job loss and increased economic recession.

More discussion on Obama’s desire to bankrupt coal producers and consumers is available at Memeorandum.

It’s hard to say since the predominantly left leaning media, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has reported very little of this.

And I’m wondering what they understand, really understand about his judgment since some of his closest associates include unrepentant domestic terrorist William Ayers, convicted felon Tony Rezko and the infamous Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who preaches anti-American and anti-Semitic rhetoric from his pulpit, to name but a few.

It’s hard to say since the predominately left leaning media, brushes this off, rather than reporting it. In a week’s time, Joe the Plumber has been vetted more seriously by the media than Obama has been in a year and a half. And all the poor guy did was ask a question.

Many of my friends are supporting Obama. While I do not agree with their choice, I understand the desire beneath it. They tell me they are tired of political bickering. They are excited by the possibility of a Black president. They like the message he preaches of tolerance and unity.

I think it would be wonderful to elect a Black or female president although I make most of my decisions based on qualifications, not identity politics.

And I would certainly like to see more tolerance for differences of opinion and freedom of speech. I am wondering what some of my friends and the adoring throngs would make of the violence being perpetuated by ACORN workers and Obama canvassers here in St. Louis against McCain followers.

Here is the story. For days, I have been driving past a home with a large McCain sign on Lindell, a stately boulevard with large homes in the Central West End of St Louis. Frankly, it warmed my heart to see the sign in the sea of Obama signs. I have thought how great that neighbors can express their differing points of view and probably still borrow a cup of flour. And considering that Obama launched a truth squad in Missouri comprised of law enforcement officials that has been designed to intimidate the general population, I appreciated the courage of the McCain supporters.

Yesterday, as I was driving past, I noticed that the accompanying smaller Palin sign that had included a portrait of Sarah Palin had been torn and her image removed. Curious to know what happened, I knocked on their door. I introduced myself as a former Clinton supporter who was not in the Obama camp.

The family with whom I talked has names, of course. But you will not read their names here because they are afraid. Here is their account.

The woman of the house told me that she had seen ACORN workers cutting the sign and when a postal worker came up to the house to deliver the mail, they urged him to steal the sign. They were so loud; she heard them in the kitchen and called the police.

She told them to stop and for the postal worker to step away from the sign. The ACORN workers sneered and laughed at her and sped off in a car. When the police arrived, the postal worker begged for his job, saying he had been bullied and she decided to drop the charges.

Her husband then told me that the other McCain signs on the block had been torn and they knew of signs that had been cut or removed in Ladue, a suburb of St. Louis.

Appalled, I suggested that we alert the media and have them come out to photograph the signs and interview the couple. The couple seemed very responsive to the idea, saying they wanted people to know what was going on and that they were proud of supporting John McCain. That he was a candidate who spoke to their values.

I offered to call the media and help make the connection and gave them my cell phone in case they had any questions.

A few minutes later, the husband called and suggested that a neighbor down the street would be a better interview and gave me his name and address. Five minutes later, he called back again and said his wife was very anxious and afraid for the safety of their family if they went public.

Having been harassed by Obama supporters in Portland when I volunteered for Clinton and witnessed the strong-arming of delegates that went on in Denver, I said I completely understood and didn’t want to do anything to create problems for them. I would not use their names and would not try to send a reporter to their house.

So that is my story. It is a true story about a real family who are afraid to have their names in the paper or their faces on television for fear of reprisal. And I don’t blame them. But I will blame the American public if they don’t wake up to the fact that Barack Obama is not just practicing dirty politics Chicago style. He is encouraging fascism on the part of hired workers.

Wake up, folks. This is not the candidate of tolerance and unity. And we must not project that onto him, in our understandable desire for a kinder, gentler world.

This is a very difficult time for all of us as we try to sort out where our country is going and worry about the economy. The majority of the mainstream media has failed us in doing their most basic job: providing the public with information so they can make informed, responsible choices.

Early on, the majority of the mainstream media fell in love with a romantic Hollywood story about the meteoric rise of a bi-racial candidate with little experience and now is reluctant to do anything to veer from that narrative because it would make them look foolish. Maybe they even believe what they have been pedaling to the public. But the information is out there for people who want to do the reading.

The best investigative reporting is on the blogs these days. No Quarter. Hillbuzz. Lynette Long. Bud White. Heidi Li’s Potpourri. The Confluence, to name but a few.

November 4 is reckoning day. An Obama presidency will suppress free speech, plunge our economy into a depression and endanger our citizens.

Just say No Deal.

The full 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld a lower court’s ruling that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must use other government records to check the thousands of new voters for registration fraud. A three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit had disagreed last week, but the full court’s ruling trumped the panel’s decision. …Ohio Republicans sued Brunner, a Democrat.

“Her delay in providing this matching system leaves little time for election officials to act on questionable registrations,” Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett said Tuesday night.

“Once again, Jennifer Brunner has wasted valuable taxpayer dollars only to have her partisan agenda rejected by a court of law. Her shameful actions to disenfranchise Republican absentee voters, block the transparency of early voting and refuse the proper verification of newly registered voters have rightfully damaged her credibility as a nonpartisan election administrator. She is destroying the public trust in Ohio’s elections system.”

A spokesman for Brunner did not immediately have a comment.

Naughty, naughty, Jennifer. I’ll bet she didn’t immediately have a comment. Quick – contact the Obama/Axelrod spin zone – they’re great at coming up with excuses on the fly.

Brunner previously said there was no way to set up the system with such speed.

Last week, a three-judge federal panel sided with her. But when the entire set of judges heard the appeal, they sided with the Ohio GOP and U.S. District Court Judge George C. Smith in Columbus, who ordered Brunner to develop a way to verify voter registration information and make it available to local elections boards.

Tuesday’s order directs Brunner to verify new registrations by comparing information on them with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles or the Social Security Administration.

Considering someone was registered to vote by ACORN 73 times, maybe somebody’s got a right to be a little concerned. Just because the former Sec’y of State, Republican Kenneth Blackwell, did these kinds of shenanigans in 2004, doesn’t make it okay for Brunner to keep the tradition going. Ohioans elected Democrats to high offices to clean up this kind of fraud – they just might get rid of Brunner too, however, if there is the stink of corruption.

And the Second smackdown really was a smackdown you have got to read to believe.

File this under “tempers seem to be running a little high” Also in Ohio, a veritable hotbed of corruption apparently, The Akron Beacon Journal reports that police and elections board investigate alleged assault over marked ballot:

Poll workers from opposing sides in the presidential race apparently clashed in a physical altercation Friday at a Cuyahoga Falls nursing home when one accused the other of improperly marking a ballot.

George Manos, the 75-year-old Republican, told police that Edith Walker, the 73-year-old Democrat, jumped on his back and struck him in the head three to four times with her fists. Manos said two other elections workers had to pull Walker off his back, according to a report filed with Cuyahoga Falls police.

Manos said it happened after he accused Walker of ballot tampering, and he wants to prosecute. …The board probe could lead to a closer examination of the other votes with which Walker was involved.

The alleged assault piqued the interest of Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign — as the voter in question reportedly wanted to vote for McCain but her ballot was initially marked for Sen. Barack Obama.

Stop the torturing. You have to be kidding me. They’re visiting a nursing home for crying out loud!! Okay. I’ve stopped laughing. Let’s read on…

”This is a troubling report that emphasizes the importance of having a transparent and open process in every voting place in Ohio,” said Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for McCain’s campaign.

The elections board sent two teams of poll workers, each with one Democrat and one Republican, to the nursing home to assist residents who otherwise would be unable to go to the polls. Such early voting is a routine service offered by elections boards to nursing homes.

As close as I can figure it, an elderly lady wanted to mark her ballot for John McCain and Ms. Walker was electioneering and trying to coerse the elderly lady voter into voting for Obama. It was at this point that Mr. Manos took the ballot away from Ms. Walker for improperly marking it.

Manos’ written statement is similar to what he told police. He also said Walker initially refused to show him the ballot, then [she] marked it a second time.

Richard Bader, a Republican poll worker at the nursing home, wrote that he forced his way between Walker and Manos and ‘’she tried to strong-arm me out of the way, but I held my ground.” Bader said the incident drew a crowd of six to 10 people.

She ‘strong-armed him out of the way?’ Hey. I guess ‘bitches get it done.’

Robert Dengle, a Democratic poll worker who witnessed the incident, wrote that Manos grabbed the ballot out of Walker’s hand and she went after him to get it back. When they ultimately reviewed the ballot, he said, it was marked both for Obama and McCain.

Then things got ugly and the 73 year old Democrat Ms. Walker started to put a beat-down on the 75 year old Republican Mr. Manos.

Wow. Who says septuagenarians aren’t in tip-top shape?

The voter was able to cast a new, correct ballot with her desired choices, according to elections board officials.

Hey. Let the lady vote for McCain if she wants to, Edith. After all, Barack’s got the youth vote sewn up, hasn’t he?

Okay. It gets better.

First we get Obama’s Truth Squads in Missouri and ACORN voter fraud being investigated in 12 states and now this, from Megan Cloherty, FOX 4 News: Northland Couple Warns of Political Credit Card Fraud:

A North Kansas City couple has been left scratching their heads after they became the victims of a political scam.

Steve and Rachel Larman say a strange credit card charge appeared on their statement this month — a $2300 donation to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. The Larman’s say they don’t want this to be about their political affiliation, but they say they’re not about to give the Obama campaign any help from their pocketbook.

They said they notified Chase, their credit card bank, to report the fraud.

“(They) said that they had seen-they were familiar with this,” said Steve Larman. “It was fraud, they believe through telemarketing but they were going to be doing some more investigations.”

The Larman’s don’t want their politics to enter into what is essentially just a fraudulent charge. But they say that the charge involves the Obama campaign adds insult to injury for the registered Republicans.

“They (Chase) kept on asking me ‘are you sure you wouldn’t have gone to a site in support of Obama’,” said Rachel Larman. “And I repeatedly said I’m voting for McCain – I would not be going to an Obama site’.”

Gee. I thought Senator Obama’s campaign was rolling in dough?

Chase dropped the charge from the Larman’s card. The couple is thankful that they caught the charge on the card, but worried that others may not see that type of fraud on their own credit cards before it’s too late.

“You always get emails saying be on the lookout,” said Rachel. “So I just wanted to get the word out, that there’s someone out there perpetrating this against people, and to pay attention.”

The Obama campaign said they were aware of the Larman’s story, but did not have any comment.

No comment. Oh, yeah. Jennifer Brunner didn’t have any comment either. Must be going around.

I mean, I know there are a lot of enthusiastic supporters for Senator Obama, but being that everyone is so sure that he is well funded, well organized with a terrific ground operation and ginormous amounts of people who can’t wait to vote for him, can we just ask Obama supporters to follow a couple of ground rules:

• Try not to get in anybody’s face and make someone vote for your guy if they really don’t want to. Hey, Edith, you feisty thang, no more beat-downs please.
• Only take the money that was honestly contributed to your guy.
• Let’s go back to one person, one vote. Fair reflection, remember?

Oh, and Mickey Mouse doesn’t get to vote in this election.

Fair enough?

216 for McCain-Palin, 217 for Obama-Biden, 105 Toss Ups: Obama’s lead in the electoral college has officially eroded. Here is Survey USA’s report about the state of electoral affairs in Washington state:

Democrat Barack Obama’s once double-digit lead in Washington state is no more, according to this latest SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KING-TV Seattle and KATU-TV Portland Oregon. In an election today, eight weeks till votes are counted, it’s Obama 49%, McCain 45%. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll 4 weeks ago (before both candidates had named their running mates), Obama is down 2 points; McCain is up 1. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll 8 weeks ago, Obama is down 6; McCain is up 6. Obama led by 17 points in June, led by 16 points in July, led 8 points in August, leads 4 points today.

Among voters with no college education, there is continuing movement to McCain. Obama led by 15 points in July, now trails by 8, a 23-point erosion. Among voters who earn less than $50K a year, there is continuing movement to McCain. Obama’s once 26-point lead among the lower-income group is now 5 points, a 21-point erosion. Among voters older than McCain, Obama had led by 24 points in July, now trails by 1, a 25-point erosion. McCain always has run well among Conservatives, but his advantage among Conservatives has grown from 4:1 in May to 11:1 today. In Eastern Washington state, Obama led 5:4 in June, but McCain leads 2:1 today.

The erosion of Obama’s once staggering lead is not limited to Washington state; it has also altered the landscape of Montana. I quote Rasmussen Reports:

John McCain has opened a double digit lead over Barack Obama in Montana. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the Treasure State finds McCain leading by eleven, 53% to 42%.

That’s quite a change from late July when the race was a toss-up. Montana has voted for a Republican candidate in nine of the last ten presidential elections but Obama had made clear his intention to compete for the state’s three Electoral College votes. The candidate himself spent the Fourth of July in Butte, Montana and his campaign ran significant television advertising in the state. However, just before the Democratic National Convention, Obama stopped advertising in Montana and several other traditionally Republican states.

The erosion is also occuring in North Dakota. I quote Rasmussen Reports again:

Like neighboring Montana, North Dakota has become a lot friendlier to John McCain in the first polling conducted since Sarah Palin was nominated to be the Republican Vice Presidential nominee.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of North Dakota voters shows McCain with a 14-percentage point lead over Barack Obama, 55% to 41%. In early July, the candidates were tied in the state and Obama was looking to the Dakotas and Montana as a way to expand the electoral map for Democrats. Now, the Democratic nominee appears to be more focused on traditional battleground states.

But North Carolina really bore the brunt of this displacement of geological proportions. I quote ABC 11 News in Raleigh-Durham:

In 3 previous SurveyUSA NC tracking polls, McCain had led by 8, 5, and 4 points. Today: 20. McCain has gained ground in every demographic group. Among men, McCain led by 9 last month, 27 today. Among women, Obama led by 2 last month, trails by 12 today. McCain holds 9 of 10 Republican voters; Obama holds 3 of 4 Democratic voters; independents, who were split last month, break today crisply for McCain, where, in the blink of an eye, he is up by 25.

In a blink of an eye, a veritable avalanche followed in the wake of Sarah Palin’s emergence. States once competitive were swept into McCain’s columns, while others, particularly those “traditional battleground states,” are quickly sliding toward the precipice. McCain is hovering above the fifty percent threshold in Missouri; he leads Obama by 1 point in Nevada; he is inching ahead of Obama in Michigan; McCain-Palin trounces the Democratic ticket in Florida by a seemingly insurmountable 8 points; the gap separating Obama and McCain in New Jersey is closing; and Ohio is teetering on the brink: unless Obama can move mountains, the prospect of a Democratic victory will be nothing more than a pebble plummeting into a Republican abyss.

No wonder why Democrats on Capitol Hill are panicking. And no wonder why Obama is resorting to some of the most deplorable tactics imaginable. But Obama is desperate, and desperate candidates will do and say anything in a vain attempt to reverse a course that can only be described as inexorable.

Irrefutable evidence indicates that Obama’s campaign has been doing business with CSI, which appears to have been operating fraudulently in the State of Maryland and Ohio, and ACORN, which has been associated with a laundry list of fraudulent business practices. The full nature of the relationship between ACORN and Citizens Services Inc is not known but this much is clear: both share the same address in
New Orleans and officials with CSI refer folks to ACORN for questions about “political consulting” and “Get-Out-The-Vote” activities. These are questions that mainstream media should examine.

According to Wikipedia, ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, was founded in 1970 as “a community organization of low- and moderate-income families that addresses housing, schools, neighborhood safety, health care, job conditions, and other social issues that affect its members.” Voter registration has been a major activity for the organization and ACORN has been working actively to register voters on behalf of the Obama campaign. According to the Milwaukee Journal Online,

The ACORN effort is part of a massive voter registration drive aimed at the fall presidential election, which is expected to pit Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois against Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Although voter registration and Get Out the Vote drives seem like noble activities, in fact, not all of ACORNs dealings have been legal, and once again ACORN is facing investigation for illegal voter registration:

Criminal investigations could be launched against at least six voter registration workers who tried to add dead, imprisoned or imaginary people to the voter rolls, according to the Milwaukee Election Commission and the organization that employed them.

This is not the first time that ACORN has been under criminal investigation. I have already looked at Obama’s connections to ACORN and put into context ACORN’s fraudulent activities during the primary election season here, and here. In fact, the same Wiki entry list five earlier indictments:

False registrations by employees

In some locations, ACORN employees have submitted false registration forms rather than obtaining registrations from actual eligible voters.

• In Ohio in 2004, four ACORN employees were indicted by a federal grand jury for submitting false voter registration forms.
• In January 2005 two Colorado ACORN workers were sentenced to community service for submitting false voter registrations. ACORN’s regional director said, “we find it abhorrent and do everything we can to prevent it from happening.”
• On November 1, 2006, four part time ACORN employees were indicted in Kansas City, Missouri for voter registration fraud, after being caught, fired, and turned in by ACORN. Prosecutors said the
  indictments are part of a national investigation.ACORN said in a press release that it is in large part responsible in these individuals being caught, and has cooperated and publicly supported efforts to look into the validity of the allegations.
• ACORN was investigated in 2006 for submitting false voter registrations in St. Louis, Missouri. 1,492 fraudulent voter registrations were identified.
• In 2007, five Washington state ACORN workers were sentenced to jail time. ACORN agreed to pay King County $25 000 for its investigative costs and acknowledged that the national organization could be subject to criminal prosecution if fraud occurs again. According to King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, the misconduct was done “as an easy way to get paid [by ACORN], not as an attempt to influence the outcome of elections.”

Indeed Obama has a long history of working with ACORN in his community organizing days in Chicago. A subsidiary of ACORN, Citizens Services Inc (CSI), is part of what John Fund of the Wall Street Journal calls “Obama’s Liberal Shock Troops”.

For example, a search for ACORN at the 1024 Elysian Fields Avenue address in New Orleans uncovers at least 70 different organizations operating out of that front. One of these, Citizens Services Inc, has received almost $1 million dollars from Barack Obama’s campaign in the last five months.

Citizens Services Inc seems to run under the radar and they do not advertise their services. In response to one of their board members, someone named Sunday Alibi, we were told that this work is done by ACORN, not Citizens Services. Citizens Services has worked on the Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) efforts for campaigns in at least two states, Maryland and Ohio.

First, they were involved in the Maryland Congressional race of 2006, which brought about an FCC complaint this year involving Representatives Al Wynn and challenger Donna Edwards, Wynn vs. Edwards. At the center of the complaint is Citizens’ Services Inc and several other ACORN entities. According to the Louisiana Secretary of State all three of these businesses work out of 1024 Elysian Fields Avenue, New Orleans, ACORN’s business address.

According Lori Sherwood, Wynn’s campaign manager, Edwards made three payments of $76,866.80 to Citizens Services Inc, for a door-to-door get-out-the-vote effort. It seems CSI listed as their business address, 11 Chase Street, Baltimore. When Ms. Sherwood checked the address she found no CSI/ACORN. Upon further examination by Ms. Sherwood, CSI was listed as a foreign company, which was false. Finally Ms. Wynn discovered that the company had forfeited their license to do business in Maryland two months after the 2006 primary race.

Secondly, I looked for CSI/ACORN “campaign consulting” fees in Ohio. I called the Secretary of State of Ohio to find out if they were listed as an active business and they were not. I did find the following businesses operating in Ohio, ACORN LLC, ZACORN (active fictitious name) and acorn.net. As there was no permit for CSI to do business in Ohio, clearly any GOTV activities were operating illegally in that state as well.After placing my call to the Secretary of State in Ohio, I found the following advertisement seeking workers for the Obama campaign, dated February 21, 2008. These are positions paid for by the Obama for America campaign. The full body of the help wanted ad can be found here: Obama Seeks Canvassers

GOTV for Obama! Ohio ACORN is doing a Get Out The Vote project with the OBAMA Campaign. Ohio ACORN is hiring canvassers to go door to door encouraging voters to vote for Barak Obama.

ACORN is hiring in Cleveland (216)431-3905 , Columbus (614)425-9491, Cincinnati (513)221-1737, for Dayton (call Cincinnati), and for Toledo call Cleveland. Or email polnatoh@acorn.org and your inquiry will be routed to the appropriate person in each of these cities. Intake and training will be held daily at local ACORN offices.

Canvass begins on Wednesday Feb. 27th and will work through election day. Please, only persons wishing to work all or most of these days (Saturday and Sunday included) should inquire.Please do not contact the Obama campaign directly regarding this post as they are not the organization doing the hiring and it will only distract their staff and volunteers from the other important work they are doing on behalf of Senator Obama. Good luck.

According to Ohio Citizen Action, payments of $590,526.10 were made to Citizens Services Inc (ACORN) for “campaign consulting”. I reviewed all the FEC filings from February until June for Obama for America (Obama’s campaign
title) and found payments to CSI/ACORN. In all Obama for America made payments
totaling, $832,598.29 .

The FEC filings can be found here: Federal Election Commission.

Look for more breaking news in the coming weeks!

The boost in the wake of the primaries about which Obama supporters have been gloating has evaporated.  According to Gallup’s three day tracking poll, Obama and McCain are now tied at 45%.

Obama also trails McCain in the important state Missouri by a margin of seven points in a poll Survey USA released today.  McCain has already consolidated the support of a slim majority, or 50%, of Missourians, while Obama underperforms at 43%.  Consider Missouri a red state in 2008 now that superdelegates selected Obama as the Democratic nominee.

Perhaps PUMA, Just Say No Deal and I Own My Vote are finally affecting polling data.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=i9dVfylr5bg[/youtube]

Another explanation is Obama’s obvious weaknesses on issues of national security.  According to another poll Gallup released today, Obama trails McCain by a staggering 25 points on this important aspect of the Presidency.  

And while Obama has attempted to neutralize these concerns in his recent advertisement entitled “Country I Love,” he exacerbated this problem by taking credit for extending health care benefits for veterans when he in fact did not even vote on the bill he cites in the commercial.  This, I believe, will not resonate well with voters who are preoccupied with national security, and I imagine it will have electoral effects.   

Continue to support PUMA, Just Say No Deal and I Own My Vote, for our votes will decide the outcome of the election in November.  

Democrats risk turning their whole party into Florida 2000–or Florida 2008. When does the winner not win? In Florida 2000, the votes were not counted because the conservative majority on the Supreme Court ruled they shouldn’t be counted. Al Gore won the popular majority of votes in the country and likely in Florida. But George W. Bush became president. We know the catastrophe that resulted from this travesty of democracy.

Now it appears that Hillary is headed toward a popular vote majority for the Democratic nomination. Obama and his supporters have tried every gambit, play, tactic, and strategem to prevent this and to obscure and distract the Democratic voters from clearly seeing what’s obviously happening–a triumph of democracy.

Obama has been anointed by the media and dynasts of the party–Kennedy, the Daleys, and Hoffa of the Teamsters–but he can’t close the deal.

The day after Hillary’s huge victory in West Virginia, showing her deep well of support among working and middle class people, and in the border South, Obama tried to take the edge off. He trotted out John Edwards, as if he’s the working class hero. But in his last primary, in South Carolina, Edwards base of support was among those earning more than $200,000. Edwards did not endorse Obama when it might have counted, before North Carolina, Edwards’ own state. Now, his endorsement won’t sway a vote in Kentucky. And we don’t think Obama will be sending Edwards soon as a surrogate to Puerto Rico.

Then Obama applied pressure to NARAL to counter Hillary’s deep support among women, who just keep coming out. Hillary history of courageous work on behalf of women’s rights and women’s right to choose is unparalleled and unquestioned. It was Hillary who led the fight in the Senate against the Bush administration to get the FDA to approve Plan B. But Hillary’s sterling record didn’t give NARAL compromised leadership a pause. After all, these were the people who endorsed Joe Lieberman. So without consulting its affiliates, NARAL’s bosses issued a command from on high–smash Hillary, endorse Obama. But NARAL affiliates revolted and refuse to abide by this undemocratic order. Obama could care less that in trying to putting down Hillary he has destroyed NARAL. It means nothing compared to his ambition. He is leaving a path of wreckage.

Not only is Hillary the winner in seven of the eight big battleground states (except Illinois, Obama’s own), where she polls ahead of John McCain, unlike Obama in key states (Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania), but she also is ahead of critical border states–Arkansas, Missouri, West Virginia, and competitive in Kentucky. Unquestionably, Hillary is the strongest candidate for the Democrats–and as the last primaries take place the Democrats there realize it and believe they must nominate a winner.

The establishment is behind Obama. It’s the establishment versus Hillary. No one is on her side but the people. And they don’t want the people’s voice to be heard.

It’s becoming clear Hillary will be the popular vote winner when the primaries are finished. But she is finding herself in Al Gore’s position–the winner being denied victory. Obama and the establishment are turning the Democratic Party into Florida all over again. It’s hardly a surprise that Obama claims he’s ahead depend on suppressing the 1.7 million votes and delegates of Florida, not to mention Michigan.

Obama uses his media cheerleaders–MSNBC is one big locker-room of loudmouth jock sniffers–to denounce, dismiss and deny that voters actually matter. Forget about counting votes! Forget about people voting!

The Democratic Party is about to face its moment of crisis. Will it be democratic? Will the votes really matter? Will the winner be the winner? If the loser is crowned, nobody should be surprised if he’s a loser. But it’s not too late! The winner can still win, despite all the forces amassed against her.

But, remember, there is only one true measure of winning in a democracy–who has the most votes. The one who doesn’t win a majority and suppresses votes isn’t the winner. He’s the loser, acting in bad faith, denying democracy.

Democracy in the Democratic Party is on the line.