Political Wire is pointing to Robert Novak today:
GOP strategists “are privately conceding that the GOP could lose Georgia’s 15 presidential electors for the first time since 1992 because of Bob Barr’s ballot position as the Libertarian Party presidential candidate.”
“Third-party presidential candidates almost always run more poorly in the actual election than their showing in the polls, but Barr, as a former Republican congressman from Georgia, might sustain support in his home state.”
Count me among those who believe it’s true.
Meanwhile, Max Cleland was disinvited from an Obama fundraiser in Atlanta last week because the wounded war hero is now a lobbyist. So what is Cleland a lobbyist for?
Cleland, a triple amputee and decorated Vietnam War veteran, was a U.S. senator for six years, until 2003, and he remains active in Democratic politics. Last July, Cleland became a lobbyist for Tissue Regeneration Technologies, a Cherokee County company that develops and makes medical devices for military personnel wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
No matter. A spokeswoman for the Obama campaign is quoted as saying, “But we have a policy.”
Apparently “change we can believe in” does NOT include making provisions for EXCEPTIONS in policy where needed.
Says Stefan at Georgia’s left-leaning Blogs for Democracy:
Demonizing lobbyists is dumb and anti-information. Were lobbyists given too much sway in the Bush administration? Yeah, but they were only on loan from their corporate chiefs. So in this scenario, the CEO of a company can come and rub shoulders with Obama, but not Cleland. Brilliant policy.
Get ready for government for those who aren’t paying attention.
Speaking of paying attention, on Thursday RawStory reported on a little noticed press conference in Ohio where a GOP cyber-security expert (and former adviser to Sen. John McCain) suggested that Diebold tampered with the 2002 Georgia election.
Specifically, the election resulted in incumbent Democratic Sen. Max Cleland’s defeat. A week before the vote he had a five point lead and incumbent Democratic Governor Roy Barnes, who was also defeated, had an eleven point lead.
A whistleblower provided a questionable Diebold patch to Stephen Spoonamore, a prominent cyber-security expert and registered Republican:
Individuals close to [Attorney Cliff] Arnebeck’s office said Spoonamore confirmed that the patch included nothing to repair a clock problem. Instead, he identified two parallel programs, both having the full software code and even the same audio instructions for the deaf. Spoonamore said he could not understand the need for a second copy of the exact same program — and without access to the machine for which the patch was designed, he could not learn more. Instead, he said he took the evidence to the Cyber-Security Division of the Department of Justice and reported the series of events to authorities. The Justice Department has not yet acted on his report.
I’ll be among those paying attention!