McCain's presidential hopes hinge on swing-state shocker

[Miss Chybil]

Source: Arizona Republic

For a nation recently conditioned to nail-biting elections that stretch from Tuesday into Wednesday and perhaps into December, this year offers something different.

Two days before the election, John McCain is behind in every national poll and in polls in nearly every swing state. Barring an unforeseen incident or a well-hidden trove of voters in key states across the country, the Republican Arizona senator appears headed for defeat.

While Florida and Ohio offered a dramatic coda to the past two elections, Pennsylvania and Virginia could end the competitive stage of the race quickly this year.

Pennsylvania hasn't gone to a Republican since 1988, and Virginia hasn't gone to a Democrat since 1964. If Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois carries both, as most polling now suggests he will, McCain has no plausible path to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the race. That is because the most conservative estimate for Obama suggests he has secured at least 238 electoral votes.

McCain has effectively bet his campaign on winning Pennsylvania. But despite his many visits there in recent weeks, he remains behind by 12 percentage points in recent polls.

more...


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2008/11/02/20081102swingstates1102.html

[geomon666]

1. McCain is a turkey and Thanksgiving is coming early for him this year.

November 4th is carving day.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Thanks for posting! It's good to know some of the bellweathers for Tuesday night.

I would just say this: The vote counting system, in PA, VA and throughout the U.S., is set up for fraudulently reversing progressive wins. The Corpo-Fascists who own and control the 'TRADE SECRET' code, by which all our votes are now tabulated, with virtually no audit/recount controls, have the capability--the EASY capability--of stealing this election from Obama, or (a wiser choice on their part, at this point) significantly and fraudulently shaving his mandate (the 'news' narrative for that pre-ordained result is already in motion) and inflicting him with a Puke/'Blue Dog'-infested Congress. If you add a shaved mandate, and a difficult Congress, to the Financial 9/11 that the Bushwhacks just pulled off, you have a recipe for considerable suffering and turmoil in this country for the next four years. By letting Obama win, they preserve their election theft capability for future use, in the House elections in 2010, and of course the presidential election in 2012.

"Barring an unforeseen incident or a well-hidden trove of voters in key states across the country..."

Yes, well, that "well-hidden" trove of votes was there, in 2004. But it wasn't real. It was the result of fraudulently and secretly programmed voting machines--that had been fast-tracked all over the country, during the 2002 to 2004 period, with a $3.9 billion electronic voting boondoggle from the Anthrax Congress--and the tyrannical power of the Bushwhack government as to suppressing Democratic votes in Ohio, Florida and other states.

We must--WE MUST!--restore transparent vote counting, no matter who wins on Tuesday. There will likely be dancing in the streets that night. I don't think they will reverse an Obama win. But I hope and trust that we wake up the next morning and soberly proceed to dismantle this election theft system, that remains an extreme danger to this country, even with an Obama win.

[blossomstar]

3. Wonderful post.

Thank you. This is worded so eloquently and states what truly MUST be done. We have to know without any doubt whatsoever that each vote is counted. As it stands with these electronic machines, there is much reason to doubt. Nothing is more important in a democracy than the certainty of a fair election. Paper ballots are the only way to do that no matter how long it takes. You are so right, one of the very first things Obama does should be to make sure each and every one of our votes are counted on paper ballots!

[Peace Patriot]

5. I agree with you about paper ballots, and I would add, hand-counted with results posted

at the precinct level. NOT scanners scanning them all into an electronic system that is not audited.

But I worry not so much about Obama, as about Congress, when it comes to election reform. Congress fucked this system up, totally, in 2002, and the composition of Congress this time may be much more determined by Diebold & brethren than the presidential election.

You know who prevented election reform in Congress, in '06-'08? Our own party--and, in particular DINOs like Sen. Diane Feinstein and Christopher Dodd (--Dodd colluded with convicted felons Tom Delay and Bob Ney, in the Anthrax Congress, to inflict this 'TRADE SECRET' system upon us; Feinstein blockaded reform in the Senate, this time around).

The danger now, I think, is that Congress will make things even worse, by federalizing and centralizing the voting system, and mandating electronic voting with inadequate or no audit/recount requirements. Thus, any state run by Pukes or DINOs could go with no audit, and--paper ballot or no paper ballot--continue to steal elections. Electronic voting is NOT mandated, currently. How they accomplished this fast conversion to unaudited electronics was corruption--the $3.9 billion electronic voting boondoggle, and out-of-control, lavish lobbying of election officials and state legislators, by the electronic voting vendors.

It may be impossible to pry our election officials from these vendors, in the near future--but what we can and should do, as second best, is demand: 1) a ballot for every vote, and 2) a 100% hand-count of the ballots, as a check on machine fraud. (It should be 100% for the next few election cycles, and after that could be less. Some experts say a MINIMUM of 10% is needed to detect fraud. Venezuela handcounts 55%, and they have an OPEN SOURCE code system--anyone may review the code by which the votes are counted; it is public property--unlike our 'TRADE SECRET' system, in which half the machines in the country have NO AUDIT AT ALL, and the other half do only 1%.)

If Congress did this--and if it managed to get past the DINO blockades--things might be okay for a while. But what is there to prevent a future president or Congress from changing it again and deleting the audit requirements? Or using centralization for other grave harm, such as a federal voter ID system that could purge millions of voters from the system, with no recourse except in Washington DC!

I favor states' rights on this issue. I think our multiple local and state jurisdictions, as to choosing a voting system, is our safety valve. And that is the best--and most possible--place for reform to happen, since ordinary people still have some influence at the state/local level. The states still control the voting rules--albeit with more and more federal encroachment. The Bushwhacks right now are SUING New York--the last holdout on e-voting--to force them to join the election theft system. If you federalize and centralize, you make it possible for BAD reform to be vast and swift.

I would rather have a system that is controlled by many different people, all over the country. The one exception is the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but that law was passed to address the really egregious, official bigotry in the southern states, that had designed laws to keep 90% of black citizens from voting, and enforced that disenfranchisement with brutality--beatings, lynchings. It was a civil rights issue. And I would approve of the federal government stepping in, in any such situation, of systematic exclusion.

Voting systems should be allowed to have their own rules, and peculiarities, and particular cultural flavor--the wonderful variety of this country--so long as they don't discriminate in violation of civil rights. That variety is a STRENGTH. Centralization is often evil, but on voting--something so important that happens at the local level, and concerning which transparency is THE essential element--centralization is VERY evil. Even centralizing the vote counting to the county seat is evil--because most people don't have the time to go watch, and in big counties--Los Angeles, for instance--it is virtually impossible. Vote counting should occur at the most local level possible: the precinct. The results should be posted there, for all to see, and then sent on to central locations. And the election system and its rules should be decided as close to the people as possible--as our Founders intended. State legislatures. County boards.

I fear what Congress will do about this. I really do. And I fear DINOs even more than Pukes. I fear a centralized electronic system. Its potential for abuse is enormous.

If Congress could pass a very simple law--a ballot for every vote, a minimum 10% handcount--and leave it at that, fine. You can use electronics or not, open source or trade secret, but every vote must be on paper, with the minimum count needed to detect fraud. Just these simple transparency requirements would be helpful. But, believe me, they won't stop there. The Pukes and the DINOs want to make these private vendors a requirement. They want Corpo/Fascists in control of the system.

[blossomstar]

12. Again, BRAVO!

You have stated in simple terms (that even I can understand) the answer to all the problems we are having. You should consider writing a letter and letting all of us sign on demanding these changes. Maybe when Obama wins, we can get something done about it. THANK YOU for taking the time to explain this.

[Window]

6. Very well stated.

:thumbsup:

[glowing]

8. I think that was the reason for early voting en-masse.. to show these

ass-hats, they are not going to be able to steal this thing. They know WE will not stand for it this time.. NO way, no How, NO McCAin.

[earthlover]

9. I don't think that they are going to pull off throwing the election this time

the polls are too distant, people would smell a rat. If the polls were closer, they could sneak in a couple of % and most would not suspect anything. This year? With record turnouts favoring Dems, and the polls pointing to a landslide? And more importantly, they would have to cheat in several states instead of just a few.

Relax. I think they know they can't pull it off this time. If they did, there might be rioting in the streets and if they got caught their party would be OVER, the end of the republican party in national politics for a generation or two

[machI]

4. The Main Stream Media is still laying the groundwork for a DieBold theft

The MSM has to have the news stories in place to cover another election stolen by Republican vote switching.

[MetaTrope]

7. Bingo!

[Peace Patriot]

10. I suspect that it's just a reflex action--they don't know how to do anything else but

spin it for Bushwhacks. So they just keep spinning, even though the Corpo/Fascists who own and control the voting machines, and their global corporate predator pals, may have decided on another strategy--letting Obama win; yeah, he can have this mindbogglingly looted government and economy; heh-heh! That way, the people won't take hammers to their election theft machines. They come back in 2012, after ALL the Buswhack shit has hit the fan, and install their flavor-of-the-month nazi in the White House.

They also need to keep the Corpo/Fascist agenda in there, as a legitimate political stance. Some of the autopilot Democrat-bashing is just about that--keeping the political discussion tilted way right.

I do think, though, that this "tightening race" crapola we've been hearing may be a deliberate narrative, in coordination with Diebold & brethren, for shaving Obama's mandate--a mandate that is way understated in the polls, in my opinion. I think his real lead is in the 20% margin range. The pollsters have ways of cutting that back to 7% to 10%. And Diebold & brethren can easily--EASILY--shave five points off of that, and make it a squeaker. Thus, Obama's hands are further tied, as to any real reform. Finally, I think the election theft corporations may be concentrating on Congress, and (s)electing 'Blue Dogs' where possible (to fool us with DINOs) and adding the few %'s needed, in tight races, to keep some Pukes in office.

I'm not saying they won't steal it from Obama. They can, and they might. But they would be smarter not to, this time--and save their election theft capability for later.

[Roy]

13. I don't think they can steal it this time.....

For the reasons mentioned by you and others in this thread.
Also, I don't think their stealing "infrastructure" is set up for some of the states that Obama is forcing them to compete in.

Theft would most likely have to occur in larger electoral states that they can keep in stealing range. Ms Brunner I believe has Ohio out of control for their usual shenanigans to kick in.

Dr. Dean's 50 state strategy may have added an additional unintended benefit by preventing the theft in locations where it would put them over the top by shrinking the Repub path to winning.

[quiet.american]

11. Can't get enough of reading this kind of analysis. The comments section is a hoot, too. nt

[yodermon]

14. ... and PA has paperless DRE's.

Prepare yourself for the massive 10 pt Bradley effect swing (proffered as explanation for the upcoming theft). Remember how western PA is full of Racists, per Murtha? how convenient.