NBC News make two new States: ColoUtah and New Arizona

NBC Nightly news (23 Jan 2009) map of the US showed Colorado-Utah (ColoUtah) as one state, and NM-AZ (New Arizona) as one state.

Must be those square states

LOL
Now what would a map with 57 state look like...

PA: Another ACORN Employee Charged With Fraud

Delaware County officials have charged an ACORN employee for submitting 18 fraudulent registrations.

According to the District Attorney, as many as 500 other voter registration forms are being investigated.

'Princess' sent voter registration

'Princess' was sent a voter registration, But, 'Princess' ia a goldfish LOL

Lake County Illinois Clerk and State's Attorney call for investigation of possible voter registration fraud.

More ACORN fraud found in Cleveland, OH

Hat Tip to Genn X

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections referred more 14 cases of potential voter registration fraud to the county prosecutor today as part of an investigation of suspicious registration cards submitted by ACORN.

The board voted on each case individually after reviewing copies of cards the registration department flagged as suspicious.

Of about 72,000 cards ACORN turned in this year, election workers found batches of cards with the same name but different addresses, mismatched signatures, or different Social Security numbers. More than 5,000 were missing information and could not be used. The board could not verify the address on 3,500 others.

The board referred four cases of potential registration fraud to the prosecutor last week. The county sheriff has subpoenaed employment records of 41 workers from ACORN’s Cleveland office.

A spokesman for Prosecutor Bill Mason said the investigation is ongoing. Charges have not been filed.

ACORN Fraud in New Mexico - Duran Duran Registered and Votin

An investigation in New Mexico has revealed problems with 92 ACORN registrations in a Bernalillo County House District. Among the 92, investigators found a registration submitted for 80’s pop sensation Duran Duran.

At a press conference today, the New Mexico Republican Party provided evidence showing that at least 28 of those registrants had cast ballots in the state primary.

The Bernalillo County Clerk had recently forwarded more than 1,100 ACORN registrations to state and federal authorities for criminal investigation.

Could This Week Decide the Election?

Could This Week Decide the Election?

By Shane D'Aprile

Tuesday marks the start of early voting in Ohio-the state that held the key to the presidential election four years ago. In a place where voting issues have become the norm, some estimates have early voters comprising more than 35 percent of Ohio's total electorate this year. If so, it would be more than enough to swing the state to Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain.

"Truth is, it's a bit of a work in progress here," says Democrat and longtime Ohio political consultant Jerry Austin. This is the first presidential election for which the state will allow early voting, and Austin says there's just not enough history to provide candidates and campaigns with much of a game plan.

"The biggest thing it forces you to do," says Austin, "is to allocate a lot of resources now, as opposed to leaving it all for the last three weeks of the race."

Across the country the frequency of early voting has increased dramatically over the past three election cycles as more states have moved toward no-excuse absentee voting. That means that tens of thousands of voters no longer need a legitimate reason to cast an absentee ballot.

One wrinkle to the early voting process in Ohio this year is a rule that will allow new voters to register and actually cast an early vote on the same day. Early voting in Ohio is set to begin Tuesday, but the state's registration deadline isn't until Oct. 6. During that six-day period, Ohio's Democratic secretary of state has ruled that residents can register and immediately cast a vote. It has resulted in a lawsuit from the state GOP, which says the rule raises the specter of fraud.

Ohio's state Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether the early voting process can move forward as planned sometime Monday.

The Obama campaign, meanwhile, is preparing to take advantage of the 6-day window with younger voters, particularly those on college campuses. The primary focus is Ohio State University, which has more than 50,000 students. The campaign is also concentrating on urban areas and other parts of the state where the likelihood of securing early votes for Obama is high.

Rock the Vote has plans for an Ohio bus tour to raise awareness of the early voting window that runs mostly through the state's urban areas and major college towns.

"The fact that [Ohio] has this golden window is something [Democrats] are seeing as a great opportunity to encourage folks to get out and vote early," says Christine Pelosi, a Democratic organizer. "The other benefit is that if you can get your supporters out now, before the final blitz of negativity, you can counter some of the voter suppression that comes in the form of negative campaigning during the last few weeks."

From a grassroots perspective, one of the keys to early voting is voter education. Pelosi says the greatest early voting hurdle tends to be unawareness of the rules. That's particularly the case in a state like Ohio, where the 6-day window breeds uncertainty.

"It's confusing," she says. "It made my eyes pop and I do this for a living. So, I can imagine the reaction of the average voter."

The McCain campaign, too, is rounding up early voters in Ohio, and says it's not ceding the playing field to Obama. The McCain-Palin ticket will be in Columbus, Ohio for a Monday morning rally.

Republican Phillip Stutts says that while on paper the Obama campaign has the organizing advantage, the McCain campaign boasts an Ohio grassroots staff that has worked together for more than one election cycle, and has executed early voting plans in the form of absentee balloting in previous years.

Of course, Ohio is far from the only key state where early voting will exert a major impact on the final vote. Early voting estimates are just as high in states like Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado and Florida, where between 30 and 40 percent of the total electorate is expected to cast early or mail-in votes.

In 2004, says Stutts, the early voting focus in the Bush campaign was on reliable voters. Stutts was the national director of the Bush campaign's highly successful 72-hour plan.

"We had an early vote strategy for every state in 2004, because you had to deal with different rules and regulations in just about every state," he says. "We tried to turn out our reliable voters early, which allowed us to spend the last week or so getting the less reliable voters out."

As for exactly who votes early, it's hard to identify any real pattern, says John Fortier of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank. Based on past statistics, early voting doesn't appear to advantage one party over another, but Fortier says research does show that early voters are more partisan than the rest of the electorate.

In the end, says Stutts, early voting likely means that the next two weeks are just as important as Election Day for the GOTV operations of both campaigns.

"You could have a third of the entire electorate that has already voted by Election Day," he says. "So the best early vote strategy could really decide this entire election."

sdaprile@politicsmagazine.com

ACORN hires Child Rapist, Thieves and Drug Dealers

KRQE in Albuquerque exposes ACORN registration agents as rapists and felons.

Spring Breakers Fear Mexico Border Town

Spring Breakers Fear Mexico Border Town
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
March 10, 2008

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas - Michigan State senior Paul Bonenberger avoided temptation during this island's season for wild spring break partying by leaving his passport at home.

"I've heard tons of (stuff) about the border," said Bonenberger, 21, two beers in hand and surrounded by hundreds of Midwestern spring breakers on the beach. "I've heard it's unsafe. I'm not about the border anymore, it's not worth the risk."

Once, most South Padre spring breakers visited nearby Matamoros, Mexico, for the touted "Two Nation Vacation."

But news of gun battles between soldiers and drug cartels in Mexican border cities this winter appears to have reached even the frigid campuses of the upper Midwest. Tourists have not been targeted, but students and tourism officials on both sides of the border say spring breakers are keeping their toes in U.S. sand this year.

The young, tan masses have not been surveyed lately, but Dan Quandt, executive director of the island's convention and visitors' bureau, said "we have noticed over the past few years a decline in the number of students going to Matamoros."

Debra Fassold, who manages a cross-border shuttle service, said she used to ferry several hundred spring breakers daily and now gets only a few dozen. She has canceled night trips.

"I've had no reason to schedule them this year," Fassold said, adding that no one has even asked for the once-popular excursion.

Those partying on South Padre Island said they opted to stay domestic this year not just because of safety concerns, but also because of tighter identification requirements for returning to the U.S.

Rachel Padgett, of Austin, has been coming to South Padre Island for more than half her life. It was traditional to go over to Matamoros for a haircut and to shop for jewelry, but not this year, said the 21-year-old Michigan State student.

"Not right now, there's a drug war," Padgett said.

Students from the University of Texas and Texas A&M descend on South Padre this week, the apex of spring break on the dune-covered island off the coast of South Texas.

Matamoros and other border cities in Mexico are now patrolled by Mexican soldiers sent to the border to quell drug cartel violence. Their armored personnel carriers and machine guns are far from inviting.

Arturo Morales, tourism promotion director for Matamoros, said the military is there to protect residents and tourists.

Morales said fewer spring breakers were visiting the city across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, but said spring breakers need to learn more about the military's security role. Morales noted Winter Texans  northerners who spend the winter in Texas and then return home in the spring  have become accustomed to the military presence and continue visiting border cities.

Some students have crossed the border without worry. Joseph Cook and Ariela Ruiz, students at Evangel University in Missouri, enjoyed a day of shopping and sight-seeing on the recommendation of the concierge at their hotel.

They drove to Brownsville, walked across the bridge and took a taxi to Matamoros' main market area. They saw federal soldiers stopping and checking cars, but had no problems.

Asked if anyone had warned them about going to Mexico, Cook said: "Just my parents. They said 'be careful.'"

Richardson Ends Presidential Bid

From Politweets:



New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson ended his campaign for the presidency Wednesday after twin fourth-place finishes that showed his impressive credentials could not compete with his rivals' star power.

He was not able to build the momentum and came in a distant fourth place in Iowa and New Hampshire. Richardson didn't get quite 5 percent in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday and came in with just 2 percent in the Iowa caucus last week.

Richardson planned to announce the decision Thursday, according to two people close to the governor with knowledge of the decision. They spoke on a condition of anonymity in advance of the governor's announcement.