Democrats to field 5,000 lawyers in Key states to ensure the Republicans do not “steal” the election

International     Democrats to field 5,000 lawyers in Florida Ewen MacAskill To ensure Republicans do not “steal” the election They will help voters denied a ballot on spurious grounds or fight to keep polling stations open The Republicans plan to send their volunteer-advocates too Orlando: A team of 5,000 volunteer lawyers representing the Democrats will fan out across polling stations in Florida next Tuesday to , as — Democrats claim — George Bush did eight years ago. Heading the biggest team of lawyers ever assembled is Charles Lichtman, a partner in the Fort Lauderdale law firm Berger Singerman, who has been working as an unpaid volunteer for up to 18 hours a day since August. His drive comes from the experience of being what he describes as “the Hanging Chad Guy,” leading a group of lawyers based in the infamous Broward County for weeks during the recount in 2000. “Legitimate votes of citizens did not get counted. If they had been counted, we would not have been in Iraq and the economy would not have tanked,” said Mr. Lichtman (53), who is from Chicago. He vowed he would do his best to ensure it never happened again and began planning the operation that will be in place on November 4. Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign team has recruited thousands of volunteer lawyers to attend polling stations in battleground states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, and other states where the vote could be close. But the biggest push is in Florida, in part because of its history and also because polls suggest the vote will be tight.  more

Racial Politics in US elections

The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama

By FRANK RICH

Published: October 11, 2008, The New York Times Op-Ed

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There are no black faces high in the McCain hierarchy to object to these tactics. There hasn’t been a single black Republican governor, senator or House member in six years. This is a campaign where Palin can repeatedly declare that Alaska is “a microcosm of America” without anyone even wondering how that might be so for a state whose tiny black and Hispanic populations are each roughly one-third the national average. There are indeed so few people of color at McCain events that a black senior writer from The Tallahassee Democrat was mistakenly ejected by the Secret Service from a campaign rally in Panama City in August, even though he was standing with other reporters and showed his credentials. His only apparent infraction was to look glaringly out of place.
Could the old racial politics still be determinative? I’ve long been skeptical of the incessant press prognostications (and liberal panic) that this election will be decided by racist white men in the Rust Belt. Now even the dimmest bloviators have figured out that Americans are riveted by the color green, not black — as in money, not energy. Voters are looking for a leader who might help rescue them, not a reckless gambler whose lurching responses to the economic meltdown (a campaign “suspension,” a mortgage-buyout stunt that changes daily) are as unhinged as his wanderings around the debate stage.

Obama raised four times as much as John McCain from contributions less than $200.

Source BBC

Tracking campaign finance

FINANCIAL OVERVIEW as of 31 July 2008



Barack Obama has raised more money than John McCain partly because of the excitement generated by the Democratic nomination battle. His donors had pressing reasons to donate, from January right through to June, while Mr McCain wrapped up the Republican nomination in March.
Mr McCain has decided to take public financing, which means that from 1 September he has a maximum of $84m [£45m] to spend on his campaign. The McCain campaign is no longer accepting donations, except to its compliance fund - money to pay for lawyers, accountants and other expenses involved in maintaining compliance with federal election laws. The Republican National Committee, however, can still raise money to support the McCain campaign.
Barack Obama is the first candidate not to take public financing since the system was introduced in the mid-1970s. He will have no spending limit.
The Obama campaign has also broken the mould of US election finance by making big efforts to attract small donors. As a result Mr Obama has raised almost four times as much as John McCain from donors contributing less than $200. More