ACORN Problems in Michigan

Yesterday, on Meet the Press, Chuck Todd explained why he believes that the presidential election may be decided in Wisconsin and Michigan.

MR. BROKAW: Let's go to the map because that's where the numbers are going to count the most. Has the electoral map shifted in the last week as a result of, A, Senator McCain picking Governor Palin, and, B, getting a big bump out of his convention in St. Paul?

MR. TODD: Well, the good news is we're doing this every week because, as you said, this stuff has a half-life of a couple of hours. The way our battleground map looks this week, the toss-up states are shrinking. You are seeing these lean Republican states--they were places like Missouri, Indiana, North Carolina, Florida--seeing--seeming more solid for McCain than they ever were just three weeks ago. And that is the "Sarah Palin effect" a little bit. That is Republicans coming home. And all of a sudden it's, it's probably--look, Obama's not pulled out of these states. He's still contesting Missouri, he's still contesting Indiana, North Carolina, Florida. They just look like bigger reaches. The other thing it's done, it's moved some states into the battleground. Wisconsin was a state that Obama had thought to have put away a month ago, it's now even. And this is--we're going to see McCain-Palin in that state now.

The good news for Obama, the one place Sarah Palin has had no effect--out West. His numbers out West are strong, actually a little bit stronger. New Mexico's now in his column. Nevada, they still have a huge Democratic registration advantage that has come from nowhere. Republicans had this advantage four years ago. In Colorado. The good news, he may sweep the West. The bad news is if he loses either Wisconsin or Michigan, those pick--those gains of those so-called red states out West will be meaningless to the Electoral College.

MR. BROKAW: You, you heard my reference earlier in this program--we don't have a lot of time here--to former House Majority Leader Dick Armey saying the "Bubba vote." They're going to go in and not vote for a black man.

MR. TODD: Well, it's interesting. It's Wisconsin and Michigan in particular that, when I've talked to strategists on both sides, that's where they're nervous. It's those--they're sitting in undecided. These are folks that if you probe them on issues, they tell you they--the country's moving in the wrong direction, they tell you that the economy stinks, they'd like to see a little more money in their pocket. They're voting for Democrats for Congress, they're voting for Democrats for Senate. And then you ask them about the presidential race, and they say, "I don't know yet. I'm undecided." They don't tell you why they're undecided. And it's that voter--it--Obama's got a little magic number that I think people need to start watching in these states. On the Sunday before the election, he better be at 48 or above. Anything less than that--because he's going to lose 70 percent of the undecideds. I think the McCain folks know this; I think the Obama folks know this. So the key now is to get his numbers to 48 or above.

In effect, Todd is saying that voters in Wisconsin and Michigan can't articulate why they're undecided in the presidential race. He suggests that voters in Wisconsin and Michigan may exemplify the "Bubba vote."

As Brokaw puts it, on election day, "They're going to go in and not vote for a black man."

Nice. Wisconsin is allegedly populated with bigots.

Todd's analysis really doesn't make sense considering Wisconsin has an open primary and Barack Obama won. There was no evidence of a "Bubba vote" here.

But I digress.

I bring up Todd's comments because he notes that Wisconsin and Michigan are critical states in the 2008 election.

Here in Wisconsin, we know about fraudulent voter registration applications and ACORN.

Read more here and here and here.

There are also problems with ACORN in Michigan. Why am I not surprised?

From the Detroit Free Press:

Several municipal clerks across the state are reporting fraudulent and duplicate voter registration applications, most of them from a nationwide community activist group working to help low- and moderate-income families.

The majority of the problem applications are coming from the group ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which has a large voter registration program among its many social service programs. ACORN's Michigan branch, based in Detroit, has enrolled 200,000 voters statewide in recent months, mostly with the use of paid, part-time employees.

"There appears to be a sizeable number of duplicate and fraudulent applications," said Kelly Chesney, spokeswoman for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office. "And it appears to be widespread."

Chesney said her office has had discussions with ACORN officials after local clerks reported the questionable applications to the state. Chesney said some of the applications are duplicates and some appear to be names that have been made up. The Secretary of State's Office has turned over several of the applications to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

This is a pattern with ACORN.

I don't think it's an accident that so many fraudulent applications are being discovered in battleground states.

I believe that ACORN is working to steal the election for Barack Obama.

Remember, Barack Obama's connections to ACORN are "wide, deep, and long-standing."

Read about Al Sharpton, ACORN, and the "Not This Time" campaign.

Sharpton said the campaign is called "Not This Time" because the intent is to prevent a repeat of the voting debacle of Florida in 2000, as well as the voting problems that were reported in Ohio in 2004. George W. Bush was victorious in both cases.

"We feel they robbed the election in 2000 in Florida, but not this time," Sharpton said, according to AP. "We feel they robbed the election in Ohio in 2004, not this time."

Besides helping people register to vote, volunteers will also check voter rolls.

The National Action Network will work with the National Urban League, the Southern Christian Leadership Council and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.

There is no question that ACORN is a partisan group.

"NOT THIS TIME"?