Reply #28: OH: No Bad Deed Goes Unrewarded: Blackwell gets Gov. Nomination [View All]

[autorank]

What can I say, he’s an amazing guy. Bought the machines, tried them out in the special election a few months ago, and now he’s the nominee. Wonder if people read out there, Republican people. They certainly won’t go out for this guy, unless they’ve drunk the Cool Aid.

Blackwell grabs Gov nod while (SU prize! SU prize!) Voting problems
Posted by FogerRox on Fri May-05-06 11:57 AM


Ohio 2004 election thief grabs Gov nod while (surprise! surprise!) voting machines malfunction
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
May 5, 2006
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2006/1953

Ohio's Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell has grabbed the GOP nomination for governor in a vote count riddled with machine breakdowns. In Franklin and Delaware Counties, election officials had to "shut down and recalibrate throughout the day," according to the Columbus Dispatch. Election officials use recalibration as a code word when machines are malfunctioning including the recording of votes for wrong candidates.

Blackwell became infamous in 2004 for his role in swinging the Buckeye State, and the presidency, to George W. Bush, with whom he met with on Election Day in Columbus. Karl Rove also accompanied Bush on his visit to Columbus. Exit polls showed a clear victory for John Kerry until a massive mysterious late vote surge reversed the popular vote for Bush. The state was later the target of the first Congressional challenge to an electoral delegation in US history.

Blackwell is the first African-American nominated by a major party for the Ohio governorship. The nod is widely considered a pay-back for his role in stealing the 2004 election, just as Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris was handed a safe Congressional seat after handing the state to Bush in 2000. Harris is currently a US representative is now a candidate for the US Senate. Both Harris and Blackwell simultaneously oversaw their state's vote count while serving as co-chairs of the Bush-Cheney campaign.

Blackwell has courted the extreme right wing fundamentalist church network in Ohio. He now advocates an absolute ban on abortion, even in the case of rape or endangerment of the mother. His Democratic opponent, Congressman Ted Strickland, is the first ever Methodist Minister nominated for Ohio governor. Blackwell's campaign has deliberately flown under the radar. He has refused to disclose his public schedule as he nurtures a network of far right wing theocrats with unannounced church and Christian school appearances.