ACORN

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

No, they really don't.

If they tried attaching federal highway money or some such to election regulations, it would be ruled unconstitutional before the ink dried on the Federal Register with the number of the House Bill.

That's not influence, that's law, and would be challenged immediately. Influence isn't on paper, pork helps buy influence, but the influence is used outside the public record.

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

"It's Bush's fault!"

No, this time it's Cheney and his cronies.

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

That's not influence, that's law, and would be challenged immediately. Influence isn't on paper, pork helps buy influence, but the influence is used outside the public record.

It's a long road between the feds and the state-level Department of State. I'm not sure what influence they could use, other than making a strong recommendation and a press release. I'm not sure who would decide on that recommendation and what means they would use. I don't know that federal involvement in elections wouldn't lead to poor results.

And most importantly, I don't expect Cicero would be quelled by the idea that feds, who would then be lobbied by companies, would produce a recommendation that would satisfy her notion that the machines can be gamed. After all, there is no evidence of gaming the machines during an election - and still 44% of Americans believe that fraud is occurring with electronic machines.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Press release? Certainly not. You're talking about official channels of on the record communication, I'm talking about influence. Influence is not official, or even public, in most cases. It's a phone call, an introduction to a friend with a problem/proposal, it's a suggestion that a particular campaign donor has a service you should look into... it's an offer you can't refuse.