Gephart says Dean planning fraud in Iowa caucus

[MIMStigator]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=4097405

In a letter to Trippi and later in a conference call with reporters, Murphy said a Dean field organizer in Iowa told a Gephardt staff member some of the expected 3,500 out-of-state Dean supporters coming to Iowa to help turn out the caucus vote would try to participate.

"It has come to our attention that your campaign in Iowa is engaged in an effort to violate caucus rules and send out-of-state supporters to pose as Iowa residents and caucus in cities and towns across the state," Murphy said in the letter.

<snip>

The possibility of such an effort surfaced in November, when state party officials sent an advisory to the campaigns warning against the tactic after a Dean staff member in Vermont called and asked if a hotel address was sufficient grounds to participate. At the time, Dean officials dismissed the significance of the call and attributed it to a teen-age intern.

[ClarkGraham2004]

1. It wouldn't surprise me

He's covertly smearing Clark in NH right now.

[worldgonekrazy]

20. Oh please

Trippi was on CNN, said there was no way they would ever try such an awful thing and even if they did there was a) no way they would get away with it and b) no way their supporters would go along with it.

[blm]

41. based on Trippi's track record?

He'd only change plans if he got CAUGHT.

Many of these people traveled all day to get to that event and paid plenty of money to do so for their candidate. Trippi has NO respect for voters or the supporters of other candidates. NONE.


>>>>>
Everyone tells their own version of how Walter Mondale won the straw poll at Iowa's Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in 1983, but they all go something like this: In early October, a young Mondale aide named Joe Trippi shows up in Des Moines to check on Mondale's Iowa field operation. What he finds there horrifies him. Somehow the Iowa team has allowed the rival campaign of California Senator Alan Cranston to nearly corner the market on tickets to the JJ dinner, an annual affair designed to raise money for the Iowa state Democratic Party. This is, to colossally understate things, a problem. The dinner's traditional straw poll is an important barometer of public opinion in the state that hosts the nation's first caucuses. Mondale is a former vice president from neighboring Minnesota. Not only is he expected to win the straw poll; he is expected to win big. But the way you win is by packing the convention hall full of your own supporters. And the way you do that is by selling them tickets or buying tickets for them.

Trippi is nearly hysterical when he calls Campaign Manager Bob Beckel and Deputy Manager Mike Ford in Washington. "He speaks so fast, it was hard to keep up," Beckel recalls. "I said, 'Joe, What's the bottom line? What do you need?' He said, 'I just need permission to do whatever I need to do.' ... I just said OK." But there isn't a lot Trippi can do. He can try to get the Iowa Democratic Party to sell him more tickets. But there's no way they're going to sell him $275,000 worth, which is what Trippi estimates Cranston has bought. And, even if they would, there's no way he can afford to drop that kind of cash on an off-year event. When it comes down to it, Trippi is going to have to get his hands on tickets that have already been sold. Cranston tickets. Lots of them. And yet, once he accepts that proposition, the solution is almost elegant in its simplicity: What's to stop him from just marching right up to Cranston's people and asking for them?

"We started really early in the day," Trippi remembers, reflecting on how he and an Iowa colleague named Tom Cosgrove solved their JJ problem. "They stopped about three miles out the staging area--the Mondale buses coming from Minnesota or wherever they were coming from." What follows is one of the most ambitious political makeovers in history. A team of Mondale aides, led by Cosgrove, plasters the bus with Cranston paraphernalia--stickers, posters, buttons, everything. Three miles down the road, the bus pulls up to the Cranston tent, where a Mondale/Cranston supporter gets out and tells a real Cranston aide he has 52 people on the bus. The aide looks up at the bus, surely admiring the military-like discipline that has brought a busload of Cranston supporters from "Los Angeles or wherever" out to the middle of Iowa this early in the day, and quietly congratulates himself. He promptly hands over 52 tickets.

And it continues like this, through bus after bus of Mondale supporters: Stop three miles up the highway, lather the bus in Cranston paraphernalia, drive on to the Cranston tent, claim your tickets. And the Cranston campaign just keeps forking them over. Happily. Hell, the more buses that show up, the more impressed the Cranston people are by their own handiwork. Never does it occur to them that these busloads of supporters aren't the genuine article. At least not until the real Cranston buses start showing up. "Twenty buses pull up, and they're out of tickets," Trippi says, still amused at the spectacle almost 20 years later. "More Cranston buses keep pulling up, and they don't have the tickets anymore." Score one for Walter Mondale.
>>>>>>>
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=uPrIwAEG7fHpGFSjMCq7tR%3D%3D

[BootinUp]

57. Clever

Someone needs to keep an eye on ol' Trippi.

I remember Cranston, he was well respected in CA.

[thebigthink]

81. Nixon called it "Rat-F**king."

Nixon's crew was famous for stunts like that -- although this one would have made even H.R. Bob Haldeman and the old man himself, very proud.

I'm amazed Cranston didn't bring charges for fraud.

[thebigthink]

83. Mondale Lost, BTW

By almost 17 million votes -- 59/41%, 49 states, 525/13 electoral votes.

[madfloridian]

2. Sorry, Trippi debunked this on national TV at 4:00.

Also read his letter to Murphy at www.blogforamerica.com
Besides it is a dupe.

[MIMStigator]

9. he didn't deny they would try to vote

eom

[madfloridian]

11. That is not true, Read the letter.

.

[MIMStigator]

14. Where does he say the 3500 workers won't vote?

eom

17. here

"I assure you these allegations are false, and if my word is not good enough for you and Dick Gephardt, for whom I served in 1988 as deputy campaign manager, then it is with a particularly heavy heart that I send this letter"

[meow mix]

3. why am i not suprised

fits well with his style..

[madfloridian]

5. Debunked on CNN.

.

[maddezmom]

22. is there a link?

:)

[meow mix]

28. well good, but still i had a serious lack of suprise =)

which means something in itself...

good thing i dont have to respect someone, to vote for them over bush.
ill vote bannana. anything...

[adadem]

36. I'm not surprised either

Not in the least.

[w4rma]

89. Yup. Gephardt's style, but not Dean's. (n/t)

[quinnox]

4. If the Dean campaign dares try this

and from what I have seen of their tactics in the past, I wouldn't put it past them, then they can kiss the nomination goodbye. It would be discovered, and Dean would be forced out of the race.

[madfloridian]

7. Debunked on CNN

.

[revcarol]

97. Debunked because Trippi sez so?

Where are all the "proof" people? Trippi reminds me of a few Nixon people...well, of Bush/McCain lies.

[bearfartinthewoods]

84. if he loses in iowa, he's out anyway

.

[HFishbine]

6. The Dean campaign's response

"Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi denied the allegation and told Gephardt manager Steve Murphy "sleazy tactics like yours are exactly the reason that people have stopped participating in the political process."


same link

[Cheswick2.0]

13. Gephardt is not worthy of the defense I gave him here for months

I am disgusted in his attempt to contribute to the already cynical and disgusted mood of the American voter.

[worldgonekrazy]

24. I'm with you!

I was defending Gep during the debates of a few months ago...said I thought he would make a good President but simply couldn't be elected because he was a political dinosaur.

Now I'm just pissed at him. Shame on you Dick.

[Name removed]

85. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Padraig18]

8. Trippi's reply:

"...Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi denied the allegation and told Gephardt manager Steve Murphy "sleazy tactics like yours are exactly the reason that people have stopped participating in the political process."


<snip>


Trippi, who worked for Gephardt in 1988 as a deputy campaign manager, said the latest charge was "ridiculous" and that "people are tired of this type of campaigning."

[MIMStigator]

10. Where is the denial?

he only calls Gephart sleazy

[slinkerwink]

16. here, let me show you the debunkal....

January 8, 2004

Dear Steve Murphy,

I am saddened by your letter today because sleazy tactics like yours are exactly the reason that people have stopped participating in the political process.

Let me be clear, your allegation is ridiculous. The 3,500 volunteers who have pledged to come to Iowa by caucus time are people who believe in a better America and a stronger democracy. Many are first time voters who have chosen to reengage in the political process because they understand that government has stopped working for the people. They know that Howard Dean is a different type of politician, and if we asked them to participate in the activities you allege, they would get in their cars and drive home.

We understand that the grassroots enthusiasm this campaign has generated and the over 3,500 volunteers who are canvassing in Iowa this month is threatening to Dick Gephardt. But that is no excuse for you to try to make Iowans question the motives of these idealistic Americans who are paying their own way to Iowa to canvass. In doing so, you are practicing precisely the type of politics that these volunteers are dedicating their time and effort to stopping.

People are tired of this type of campaigning, which is why we've been energizing voters across the country with our message of hope and of a better democracy. As Governor Dean often says, it's not enough for us to change presidents -- we need to change the way politics work.

Frankly, Steve, baseless political allegations like the one in your letter lead me to believe more and more that your campaign is not the one to make this change.

These allegations are not just an insult to Howard Dean and me, but they are an insult to all of the new people we're bringing into the process. Instead of these despicable and desperate attacks, you should start running the kind of campaign that inspires and energizes thousands of new voters so much that they want to come to Iowa and campaign for your candidate!

I assure you these allegations are false, and if my word is not good enough for you and Dick Gephardt, for whom I served in 1988 as deputy campaign manager, then it is with a particularly heavy heart that I send this letter.

Sincerely,

Joe Trippi
campaign manager

[John_H]

44. Your bolds don't amount to a debunkal

There are certainly denials but I don't get the debunkal.

The first speculates that if the Dean campaign asked them to try to vote they would go home. This sentence, in fact, is the most troubling of Trippi's letter in it's "defininition-of-is-ism." Is this what he is being "clear" about?

The second accuses Gephardt of questioning Dean supporters' motives.

Can you point out the portion of the letter where Trippi either Denies or Debunks Murphy's original charge--that volunteers, operating on thier own, may attempt to violate caucus rules.

[Cha]

46. Lest we not forget just how "Sleazy"..

geppy is...

Here's geppy is with a bunch of other major Sleazebags!~

[BootinUp]

53. Even though I disagreed with his vote

He was doing what he thought was best for the country.

[HFishbine]

48. "an insult to all of the new people we're bringing into the process."

As insulting as the posts here that say they are "not surprised."

[Padraig18]

25. Read the first sentence:

"Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi denied the allegation and told Gephardt manager Steve Murphy "sleazy tactics like yours are exactly the reason that people have stopped participating in the political process."


Does it help now that it's in bold and underlined?

:wtf:

[OhioStateProgressive]

54. just cause he denied it doesn't mean it isn't true(nt)

[Padraig18]

65. The question asked where was the denail.

Nice drive-by, though...:eyes:

[OhioStateProgressive]

82. oh...I see your angle on it

i thought you were saying something to the effect of "he denied it, so it must not be true"

sometimes I should read things twice:)

[MIMStigator]

12. here's what Dean says about 3,500 workers. Where's the denial?

Let me be clear, your allegation is ridiculous. The 3,500 volunteers who have pledged to come to Iowa by caucus time are people who believe in a better America and a stronger democracy. Many are first time voters who have chosen to reengage in the political process because they understand that government has stopped working for the people. They know that Howard Dean is a different type of politician, and if we asked them to participate in the activities you allege, they would get in their cars and drive home.

[indigo32]

18. How does

"I assure you these allegations are false, and if my word is not good enough for you and Dick Gephardt, for whom I served in 1988 as deputy campaign manager, then it is with a particularly heavy heart that I send this letter." work for ya.

There is NOTHING wrong with canvassing... as I'll be doing this weekend. But I'll be voting in my OWN caucus in early March thank you.

[slinkerwink]

21. clearly reading comprehension is something that is needed.....

because if those people were asked to commit voter fraud, they would DRIVE AWAY in their cars because that's not the kind of supporters they are. They're there to canvass for Dean, and that's all.

And may I remind everyone...

Iowa has thousands of very small towns. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to show up out of nowhere among the hard-core Democratic faithful and "pretend" to be a precinct resident. A lot of energy is spent worrying about caucus cheating, but tainting a caucus would be equivalent to herding cats. Good luck to the guy who tries it.

[Padraig18]

27. here's the denial:

"Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi denied the allegation and told Gephardt manager Steve Murphy "sleazy tactics like yours are exactly the reason that people have stopped participating in the political process."

:wtf:

[loyalsister]

71. Some are going from Missouri

and some of us here are ABG. Gep is scum. I think this allegation is bull. He's jealous that he doesn't have such widespread support. I'm sick of his entitlement. I want him out of office for good.

[bobbieinok]

15. I don't see how this is possible

I participated in the IA caucus from 72 to 88.

We were in precincts, the same geographic area. If someone showed up whom noone knew, questions would be asked.

The last resort - asking for voter registration card.

The only places this MIGHT work would be in student housing/dorm areas. And I bet there would be enough questions from students supporting other candidates.

People aren't stupid.

[WillyT]

31. That's Because It ISN'T Going To Work !!!

Those volunteers are there to help take people to the caucus sites on that cold wintry night. The caucus is different, from what I'm told, because people have to actually go out in the cold and travel to the site in order to be counted. The fact that Dean is using volunteers to facilitate a 'get out the vote' act, is not at all surprising.

If any stranger showed up in one of those small communities, they'd be called on it by the locals there.

As for reigning in overzealous campaign supporters, well that has to be a problem for EVERY candidate. And now would be a good time for all of them to issue an appropriate reminder on ethics and election law!

:shrug:

[Leilani]

35. My brother lives in Iowa

Quad Cities area

He participated in 2000 Republican caucuses for McCain.

He said he didn't know anyone there, & neither did anyone else.

[BootinUp]

52. Do they require credentials, drivers license? (n/t)

[QC]

19. Trippi's Past Behavior in Iowa

Everyone tells their own version of how Walter Mondale won the straw poll at Iowa's Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in 1983, but they all go something like this: In early October, a young Mondale aide named Joe Trippi shows up in Des Moines to check on Mondale's Iowa field operation. What he finds there horrifies him. Somehow the Iowa team has allowed the rival campaign of California Senator Alan Cranston to nearly corner the market on tickets to the JJ dinner, an annual affair designed to raise money for the Iowa state Democratic Party. This is, to colossally understate things, a problem. The dinner's traditional straw poll is an important barometer of public opinion in the state that hosts the nation's first caucuses. Mondale is a former vice president from neighboring Minnesota. Not only is he expected to win the straw poll; he is expected to win big. But the way you win is by packing the convention hall full of your own supporters. And the way you do that is by selling them tickets or buying tickets for them.

Trippi is nearly hysterical when he calls Campaign Manager Bob Beckel and Deputy Manager Mike Ford in Washington. "He speaks so fast, it was hard to keep up," Beckel recalls. "I said, 'Joe, What's the bottom line? What do you need?' He said, 'I just need permission to do whatever I need to do.' ... I just said OK." But there isn't a lot Trippi can do. He can try to get the Iowa Democratic Party to sell him more tickets. But there's no way they're going to sell him $275,000 worth, which is what Trippi estimates Cranston has bought. And, even if they would, there's no way he can afford to drop that kind of cash on an off-year event. When it comes down to it, Trippi is going to have to get his hands on tickets that have already been sold. Cranston tickets. Lots of them. And yet, once he accepts that proposition, the solution is almost elegant in its simplicity: What's to stop him from just marching right up to Cranston's people and asking for them?

"We started really early in the day," Trippi remembers, reflecting on how he and an Iowa colleague named Tom Cosgrove solved their JJ problem. "They stopped about three miles out the staging area--the Mondale buses coming from Minnesota or wherever they were coming from." What follows is one of the most ambitious political makeovers in history. A team of Mondale aides, led by Cosgrove, plasters the bus with Cranston paraphernalia--stickers, posters, buttons, everything. Three miles down the road, the bus pulls up to the Cranston tent, where a Mondale/Cranston supporter gets out and tells a real Cranston aide he has 52 people on the bus. The aide looks up at the bus, surely admiring the military-like discipline that has brought a busload of Cranston supporters from "Los Angeles or wherever" out to the middle of Iowa this early in the day, and quietly congratulates himself. He promptly hands over 52 tickets.

And it continues like this, through bus after bus of Mondale supporters: Stop three miles up the highway, lather the bus in Cranston paraphernalia, drive on to the Cranston tent, claim your tickets. And the Cranston campaign just keeps forking them over. Happily. Hell, the more buses that show up, the more impressed the Cranston people are by their own handiwork. Never does it occur to them that these busloads of supporters aren't the genuine article. At least not until the real Cranston buses start showing up. "Twenty buses pull up, and they're out of tickets," Trippi says, still amused at the spectacle almost 20 years later. "More Cranston buses keep pulling up, and they don't have the tickets anymore." Score one for Walter Mondale.

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=uPrIwAEG7fHpGFSjMCq7tR%3D%3D

[meow mix]

38. kinda sounds like cheating

con em out of thier tickets. LOL!

[adadem]

45. Again, not in the least bit surprised

Is this to be debunked? Number 2 reason I left the campaign: I came to realize I had no faith in the candidate...I guess I should apply that to his campaign manager, too.

[bhunt70]

68. and we saw what happened to mondale.

[MIMStigator]

23. Will Dean fire this person

Murphy said a Dean field organizer in Iowa told a Gephardt staff member some of the expected 3,500 out-of-state Dean supporters coming to Iowa to help turn out the caucus vote would try to participate.

29. so it's at least third level hearsay

person 1 told person 2 who told person 3 who told the press....
& why would a Dean field organizer be telling a Gephardt staff member of a plan to break the law in the first place? Does this really pass the smell test?

[Padraig18]

30. Third-hand gossip.

"My sister-in-law's aunt's hairdresser's boyfriend's next-door- neighbor said...."

:eyes:

[BootinUp]

26. Has that ever happened before?

Any historical reference?

[slinkerwink]

32. we don't know, but it happened a lot in South with voter fraud

and disenfranchisement of blacks.

[Freddie Stubbs]

33. Not by campaign operatives--but a 'journalist' tried it in 2000

http://www.datalounge.com/datalounge/news/record.html?record=6783

[Mz Pip]

51. I remember that

It was a pretty bizarre stunt and the guy got busted for it.

I would think it would be hard to get away with, certainly in any large numbers. And if someone got caught it would be a disaster for the campaign. I can't imagine that any campaign would risk that.

MzPip
:dem:

[Redneck Socialist]

49. No historical reference, but...

...it is not unheard of for political activists to register where they work in order to vote for their candidate. We can debate the ethics of this but believe me it happens. I think everyone needs to take a deep breath and calm down a little.

Even if these charges were true I seriously doubt it was an organized effort sanctioned by the campaign hierarchy. They would have way too much to lose.

[John_H]

34. There's liitle evidence for this but how can it be debunked until

it happens or not?

[Lisa0825]

37. I feel personally insulted by the allegation.

I am one of those going to Iowa next week. I am a very ethical person, and would NEVER vote there, and would be absolutely outraged if asked to. I feel like my own personal integrity has been assaulted.

Why did I even bother trying to become a part of this pathetic political system again? This is the kind of shit that drives people away from the process.

[hellhathnofury]

39. I heard from a guy with a third cousin who likes Gephardt that...

Dick's Iowa staff is going to attempt to animate radioactive scarecrow's so that they can vote in the Iowa Caucus. Shameful. ;-)

[cindyw]

40. There may be no directive from trippi, but

it has been made clear to Dean supporters that they should do anything to help Dean. I would not put this past the initiative of some of his supporters.

That is why there should be poll watchers from other campaigns to make sure that this does not happen. Someone should have a list with hotel addresses and they should check all Identification cards.

Do they check identification cards? How fast can someone get an ID card in Iowa from the DMV? If the Dean people are going to cheat, why shouldn't supporters of other candidates apply for a Iowa ID card now and bring in the paperwork as if they just moved there? I'll tell you why, because it is dishonest. If the Dean people get caught doing this. Dean should be disqualified from the primary given how the campaign has been warned that it's supporters might do this.

[hellhathnofury]

42. I'm willing to commit treason for Dean.

This is all BS. We're above this. Gep must not be doing to well in his own internal polls.

Polling proof: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=84309

[Padraig18]

43. "it has been made clear to Dean supporters that they should do anything.."

Care to back that statementy up with something vaguely resembling proof? :eyes:

[maxanne]

74. and you know this

how, cindyw? You and Trippi are pals? :eyes:

[Lisa0825]

86. fucking bullshit!

I have voluntered for everything I possibly could do, and NOTHING organized has been unethical. You are either a liar, or you're completely delusional. Thanks for doing your part to encourage the destruction of our party.

[maddezmom]

47. IA is getting fugly :(

[DancingBear]

50. The "perception" thing

The problem is not so much would he do it - rather it is could those of us outside the Dean camp CONCEIVE of him doing it?

A month ago - no way. Now, predicated on actions in NH, the Kucinich flyer, etc. - yes. This belief, whether deserved or not, may transfer to the voting public, I'm afraid. Once a candidate is painted with the brush of willingness to play dirty, it usually takes hold. Gephardt and others will run with it, especially when Trippi's past Iowa history gets passed around. And it will.

The McCain 2000 post in this thread scares me, and sad to say makes me believe it could happen. I have lost my ability to trust Dean, and that has not happened with any of the other candidates.

IF erosions in your candidates character are perceived and/or observed by the voting public, this is indeed very bad news (note the big IF at the beginning of the sentence).

Just my $.02 - that's all.

[HFishbine]

56. Get it straight

It's not "him" that you are disparaging with your talk of perceptions. It is his supporters who would have to be perceived of as willing to commit election fraud. Do you think that's accurate?

[DancingBear]

67. From my youth

During college, I had a work study job which involved doing research at the Ohio Parole Board offices. I was given (almost) unlimited access to prisoner files, histories, etc. One day, I went to the office barefoot, and was asked to leave. In my mind, I did nothing wrong.

When I hear of all the young kids working for Dean, I am reminded of this. Do I think they committed election fraud deliberately? No. Do I think they thought they were doing something helpful to try and get their man a victory? Yes.

Young minds oftentimes think in mysterious ways. That is what I believe may have happened here. Without pure direction (common in "grassroots" campaigns, which pride themselves on exuberance), young people act on curious logic.

Nonetheless, it is still a reflection on the candidate, and a poor one at that. Perception matters.

[cryofan]

66. To top it all off, Dean is a Right Winger

read Dean's own words (in bold) from this footnoted article in a leftwing journal:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Most of the Democrats in the legislature rebelled against Dean over the budget cuts, and he ended up depending on Republican votes to pass most of his proposals. At the time, a local Vermont newspaper wrote, "The biggest items on Dean’s agenda for next year are likely to provoke more opposition from the Democrats than the Republicans. Nevertheless, Dean said he feels no particular pressure to deliver the goods to his party or to promote the Democratic agenda."15

In the mid-1990s, Dean even aligned himself with the likes of Republican Newt Gingrich on his stance on cutting Medicare. He opined at the time, "The way to balance the budget is for Congress to cut Social Security, move the retirement age to 70, cut defense, Medicare and veterans pensions, while the states cut everything else."16
....
The Rutland Herald described how one protestor, Henrietta Jordan of the Vermont Center for Independent Living, "said it would be much fairer to raise taxes on people with expensive homes and cars, children in private school and a housekeeper at home than to cut programs that helped the 66,000 Vermonters living with disabilities."17 Dean responded callously, brushing off the pleas of Vermont’s most vulnerable by saying, "This seems like sort of the last gasp of the left here."18"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


The rest of this article is here:
http://www.isreview.org/issues/32/dean.shtml

[dsc]

90. Is the sun going to explode

before I get those original sources your promised close to a month ago were being sent to you by email?

[Melinda]

94. You too? I've been waiting three weeks no. All hat, no cattle!

[batman]

55. first the osama add, now this lie. gephardt has lost every grain of

respect i had for him

i saw trippi speak on cnn today, he denounced these claims unequivocally

[shoopnyc123]

58. Gephardt is PATHETIC!

I'm OVUH him! That was a pathetic display tonight! And Tweety look disgusted!

[hellhathnofury]

59. Gephardt is a "miserable failure, miserable failure, miserable failure."

[kayleybeth]

60. Not sure if I believe

the voter fraud charges without further evidence. However, after reading post #41 in this thread, YIKES! If the story in TNR is true, I don't think I'd ever believe another word out of Trippi's mouth. Thanks for posting that, CLM.

[shoopnyc123]

63. Yo, he is ONE 'OLE MISERABLE ASS FAILURE! (eom)

[in_cog_ni_to]

61. Good Gawd!

Well, now we can't trust the results of the Iowa caucus results. Just like Florida! Thanks Howard! This really sucks. :puke:

[maxanne]

75. try blaming those

who are really responsible. The sleazy accusers. There is no proof of this accusation.

[Lobo_13]

62. Utter and complete bullshit

Speaking as a precinct captain, there is no way this is going to happen.

First of all, there IS a master list of registered voters when you walk in. Secondly, I've been working very closely with my campaign coordinator and he's never breathed a word of it to me. Thirdly, if they asked me to participate, the first thing I'd do is tell them to stick it straight up their asses, and the second would be to call the Edwards campaign and surrender the list of supporters.

The people in charge of running the caucus are supporting all manner of candidates. To pull off this kind of stunt, you'd have to have the complicity of every precinct chair in the state, and I assure you they are not all rooting for Dean.

And the math is fucked up. There are 2200 precincts caucusing that night. Even if they did send people that showed up (the 3500 volunteers are coming in at different times throughout the month) you'd not have enough to make an impact. That's less than one and half volunteers per precinct.

[shoopnyc123]

64. Lobo, Thanks for giving us the real deal...(eom)

[Lobo_13]

73. Ever notice how

when someone disproves the current ridiculous assertion with experience/fact/whatever, that all the people who are making such ridiculous assertions ignore it completely and just go on their merry way.

[iowapeacechief]

76. As a caucus chair...

...I can tell you it will be pretty obvious if anyone is A) not on the printout from the county auditor of Dems registered in our precinct, B) can't convincingly present a residence address that is on our precinct map, and C) doesn't know anyone present who can credibly vouch for him or her. You know how easy it would be to challenge such a would-be caucuser? I'm not very worried.

[Lobo_13]

79. too bad that won't stop the madness

never let it be said that some people can be easily swayed by reality.

[fearnobush]

87. Gep is desperate. Rove wants Dean out.

He's been running for Prez since what 1988. He knows, if Dean wins, he is done forever. He also knows that the Dean campaign is built out of solid grass roots, what he does not know is that this is the exact kind of problem Karl Rove fears the most. (See Bush's Brain) Rove has stated more than once, and through out his smearing, career ending life, that a "rapid and passionate grass roots movement is un-stoppable if left un-checked." Sounds Matrix like.

[LuminousX]

69. Gephardt planting seeds for excuse why he lost

[David Dunham]

70. If This Is True, Dean Is Toast

If Gephardt's people have evidence to support these charges, which are very serious, Dean will lose Iowa. Iowa voters will respond very negatively to Dean if his ou-of-state supporters are shown to have been trying to do this.

[adamrsilva]

72. It's sad that others hate Dean and his supporters so much

they think they would cheat to win. Let me tell you people, we don't have to cheat to win. ;)

[blm]

78. Did Trippi hate Cranston and his supporters so much that he cheated them

to win?

[LuminousX]

96. Cranston pissed in Trippi's Wheaties

[IndianaGreen]

77. Gephardt also said that we were "safer" when Saddam was captured

and that there were WMDs in Iraq.

Gephardt is a liar!

[Bread and Circus]

80. Trippi has quite a history in the Midwest, it seems...

cough cough

[farmbo]

88. LOL...from the man who brought us the Dean/ Osama commercial.

Sort of lost your credibility there, Gep.

[zulchzulu]

91. The rumor has been out on this for a while

It's nothing new in Iowa.

Lots of phone numbers will be disconnected in a couple months there.

[JVS]

92. Wow. Nice well poisoning there Gephardt!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

93. "Gephardt says Saddam is an imminent threat."

Same result.

[JVS]

95. This is really fucked up.

One of the worst things about this is that if Bush commits vote fraud the Republicans will be able to say, "Democrats always claim vote fraud, just look at Iowa" and have an easier time getting away with it.

Or another possibility would be if the republicans accuse us of vote fraud saying "Democrats did it in Iowa, now they did it in (insert crucial state here)"