Kucinich Seeks NH Dem Vote Recount

When the results starting coming in on Tuesday night from New Hampshire the first thing that went through my mind was "shenanigans." I came to accept a clean Hillary victory, but now that I know Diebold was used as the voting machines and have seen the vote descrepencies between the Diebold count and the hand counted ballots, my suspicions are raised yet again.


CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Democrat Dennis Kucinich, who won less than 2 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary, said Thursday he wants a recount to ensure that all ballots in his party's contest were counted. The Ohio congressman cited "serious and credible reports, allegations and rumors" about the integrity of Tuesday results.

Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan said Kucinich is entitled to a statewide recount. But, under Hew Hampshire law, Kucinich will have to pay for it. Scanlan said he had "every confidence" the results are accurate.

In a letter dated Thursday, Kucinich said he does not expect significant changes in his vote total, but wants assurance that "100 percent of the voters had 100 percent of their votes counted."

Kucinich alluded to online reports alleging disparities around the state between hand-counted ballots, which tended to favor Sen. Barack Obama, and machine-counted ones that tended to favor Sen. Clinton. A Difference between pre-election polls, which indicated Obama would win, and Clinton's triumph by a 39 percent to 37 percent margin.

Candidates who lose by 3 percentage or less are entitled to a recount for a $2,000 fee. Candidates who lose by more must pay for the full cost. Kucinich's campaign said it was sending the $2,000 fee to start the recount.

Scanlon said his office had received several phone calls since Tuesday, mostly from outside the state, questioning the results. New Hampshire's voting machines are not linked in any way, which Scanlon says reduce the likelihood of tampering with results on a statewide level. Also, the results can be checked against paper ballots.

"I think people from out of state don't completely understand how our process works and they compare it to the system that might exist in Florida or Ohio, where they have had serious problems," he said. "Perhaps the best thing that could happen for us is to have a recount to show the people that ... the votes that were cast on election day were accurately reflected in the results. And I have every confidence that will be the case."

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I used the Comma delimited database: NH municipalities hand count vs use Diebold machines from BlackBoxVoting.org to see if there was a deviation between the results from precincts which used hand counts and those which relied on Diebold machines. The results were astonishing. : Results tallied for 209 out of 236 of the municipalities.

By Percentage

Method	Hillary Clinton	Barack Obama
Diebold Machines	53.23%	46.77%
Hand Count	47.47%	52.53%

By Votes

Method	Hillary Clinton	Barack Obama
Diebold Machines	82860	72807
Hand Count	18898	209

By Number of Municipalities Won

Method	Hillary Clinton	Barack Obama
Diebold Machines	54	33
Hand Count	43	77

About 81% of the votes will be “counted” by the Diebold machines.

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Then again, maybe I'm wrong in my suspicions and it's just really bad data from the pollsters.

McCain Leading in South Carolina

A Fox News poll shows that John McCain is 7 points up in South Carolina. It looks like McCain will probably win it, and I think that means probably sweep to the nomination. (which is what I suspected after Huckabee won Iowa)

John McCain, 25 percent
Mike Huckabee, 18 percent
Mitt Romney, 17 percent
Fred Thompson, 9 percent
Rudy Giuliani, 5 percent
Ron Paul, 5 percent

I was worried about a McCain candidacy because of his standing among independents, but that situation has changed. mcCain looks like a bumbling old fool on the campaign trial. He's walking slow, talking slow, calling everyone "my friends", and reading his speeches from a piece of paper. I'm not afraid of grandpa McCain anymore.

John Kerry Endorses Obama

The AP is reporting that Kerry will make an appearance with Obama in South Carolina today. Do you like the "drudge" style breaking news siren? I thought I'd give it a shot with this post. Nice eh?

Gray Just what Gophers Ordered

There's a new MarQueis Gray highlight video out from rivals.com. Talks about Brewster as a great recruiter and the importance of Gray to the Gophers spread offense, as well as the overall 2008 Gopher recruiting class.

Looks like Gray has the arm (and feet), but needs to work on his delivery and accuracy a little.

Bill Richardson Drops Out

NM Gov. Bill Richardson will drop out of the Presidential race on Thursday. What does this do to the numbers in the Democratic race? Well, I think this helps Hillary overall. I suspect that most Richardson voters are probably establishment Democrats who will move to the other establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton. That's just my initial reaction upon hearing the news.....

I think Richardson is vying for the VP spot....and would be a great choice for either Clinton or Obama.

New Hampshire Primary Results thoughts

I'm watching the NH primary results come in on the teli right now, and I thought I'd post a few of my thoughts, so here they are:

FUUUUUCK!
Shit
Damnit
son-of-a
what the?
I can't believe
holy shit!
ugh
sigh
why

......I need alcohol.

Bill O'Reilly Loses It......Again

Bill O'Reilly showed up at an Obama event in New Hampshire, walked outside the press ropes and attempted an "interview" with Obama as he was exiting the stage. The Secret Service stepped in to tell O'Reilly to return to the press area. O'Reilly then goes off the deep end....and hilarity ensues.

Keith Olberman did this segment on his show about the O'Reilly outburst.

Ron Paul is just another Angry White Man (aka crazy Nazi)

Did you already know that? Well, so did I. But this article puts it all into perspective. The maverick, liberatarian, independent thinker really has said some fascist things in his life. Here' some of my favorite excerpts form the article, but if this stuff tickles you, I recommend reading the entire thing.

Take, for instance, a special issue of the Ron Paul Political Report, published in June 1992, dedicated to explaining the Los Angeles riots of that year. "Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks three days after rioting began," read one typical passage. According to the newsletter, the looting was a natural byproduct of government indulging the black community with "'civil rights,' quotas, mandated hiring preferences, set-asides for government contracts, gerrymandered voting districts, black bureaucracies, black mayors, black curricula in schools, black tv shows, black tv anchors, hate crime laws, and public humiliation for anyone who dares question the black agenda." It also denounced "the media" for believing that "America's number one need is an unlimited white checking account for underclass blacks."

Martin Luther King Jr. earned special ire from Paul's newsletters, which attacked the civil rights leader frequently, often to justify opposition to the federal holiday named after him. ("What an infamy Ronald Reagan approved it!" one newsletter complained in 1990. "We can thank him for our annual Hate Whitey Day.") In the early 1990s, a newsletter attacked the "X-Rated Martin Luther King" as a "world-class philanderer who beat up his paramours," "seduced underage girls and boys," and "made a pass at" fellow civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy. One newsletter ridiculed black activists who wanted to rename New York City after King, suggesting that "Welfaria," "Zooville," "Rapetown," "Dirtburg," and "Lazyopolis" were better alternatives.

"I miss the closet." "Homosexuals," it said, "not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities."
"Homosexuals, if admitted, should be put in a special category and not allowed in close physical contact with heterosexuals."

"The ACT-UP slogan, on stickers plastered all over Manhattan, is 'Silence = Death.' But shouldn't it be 'Sodomy = Death'?" Readers were warned to avoid blood transfusions because gays were trying to "poison the blood supply." "Am I the only one sick of hearing about the 'rights' of AIDS carriers?" a newsletter asked in 1990.

"far-left, normal-hating lesbian activist."

New Hampshire Turnout 'Absolutely Huge'

I think large turnouts in Iowa and NH are great signs for the Dems come November. We all know who's gonna win NH, but the higher the turnout the better for the general election.

ABC News' Karen Travers Reports: New Hampshire Deputy Secretary of State Dave Scanlan told ABC News that turnout among primary voters today is "absolutely huge" -- and there are concerns about running out of ballots in towns like Portsmouth, Keene, Hudson and Pelham.

"Turnout is absolutely huge and towns are starting to get concerned that they may not have enough ballots," Scanlan said. "We are working on those issues. Everything else seems to be going smoothly."

Read the full story

The Official MarxistGopher New Hampshire Prediction Thread

Voting is well under way in today's NH primary. The polls close at 7:00 EST. Who's gonna win tonight? Well, I think that's an easy call, but how about the final numbers? Here's my call:

Barack Obama - 41
Hillary Clinton - 27
John Edwards - 23
Bill Richardson - 7

John McCain - 39
Mitt Romney - 28
Mike Huckabee - 13
Rudy Gulianni - 10
Fred Thompson - 5
Ron Paul - 3

You can add your predictions in the comments....

A Day with Barack Obama

MarQueis Gray is a Golden Gopher!!

4 star QB MarQueis Gray from Indianapolis committed to the Gopher Football team on Saturday at the U.S. Army High School All-American game. Watch a video of Gray's announcement here. It would have been nice if he had a Gopher hat that actually fit, but i guess beggers can't be choosers. We'll take him!

Gray is a big time recruit and the biggest "get" so for for Minnesota and Tim Brewster. I expect Gray to be the starter next year, overtaking Adam Weber. However, it is possible that they will decide to redshirt Gray and give Weber another year, which I wouldn't have a problem with. That would give Gray the 2009 and 2010 seasons to rotate with Weber and then Gray could take over as the starter in 2011.

After the Gray commitment the 2008 Gopher Football recruiting class is ranked #21 in the nation! This is going to be a very good recruiting class for Tim Brewster, especially given that the Gopher went 1-11 last season.

Possibility of Obama Assassination Attempt?

I for one am concerned about the possibility of an assassination attempt on Barack Obama. I'm obviously not the only one, as the Secret Service is giving Obama lots of attention, and the Obama campaign refuses to talk about security issues.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Secret Service presence has increased for Sen. Barack Obama since his dramatic win in Iowa, amid fears over the safety of the man seeking to become America's first black president.

The Illinois senator's security now rivals that of President Bush, with a dozen Secret Service agents wearing dark suits and earpieces leading bomb-sniffing dogs through event venues, sweeping all equipment brought by journalists and flanking the candidate as he plunges into crowds of supporters.

"For many black supporters, there is a lot of anxiety that he will be killed, and it is on people's minds," said Melissa Harris-Lacewell, a Princeton University professor of political science and contemporary black culture.

"You can't make a prediction like this — like he has 'a 50 percent chance of getting shot.' But the greater his visibility and the greater his access to people, there is a danger," she said.

Another black presidential candidate, Jesse Jackson, drew Secret Service protection because of violent threats during his campaigns in the 1980s. And former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell ruled out a presidential run in part because his wife expressed fears he would be assassinated.

Mr. Obama, who reportedly resisted asking for Secret Service protection but personally requested a detail of agents after friends insisted, has been under federal watch since early last year. No one will say whether he has received an explicit death threat — his campaign said yesterday only that "we don't comment on security" — but officials have tracked racist chatter on white-supremacist Web sites.

The Internet is rife with theories that someone may try to assassinate the senator — typing into Google "assassinate Obama" brings up more than 2,000 hits. Anyone from Islamist terrorists to racist Americans to operatives of Halliburton and Blackwater are speculated about, but other, more nefarious Web sites are for real, according to reports from the Associated Press.

At his first morning event yesterday, at least a dozen plainclothes Secret Service agents, most with yellow pins on their lapels, stood guard in and around the Palace Theater, and, unlike other candidates touring the state, uniformed police were also on hand. The theater was emptied early so bomb-detecting dogs could sweep through, and journalists covering the event were corralled for inspection.

"Just put all your equipment down, leave the room, and close the door," one agent barked as another agent paced the hallway with a bomb-detection dog. Known as a "sweep" on the White House beat, the media did as told, allowing agents to rustle through their computer bags and turn on electronic equipment to make sure it was real.

Only Mrs. Clinton, who is entitled to protection as a former first lady, and Mr. Obama have Secret Service details. Mr. Obama was given Secret Service protection far earlier in the campaign than any previous candidate following worries about racist threats, federal officials said.

For instance, both Sen. John Edwards and Sen. John Kerry, two Democratic presidential candidates last election, were given Secret Service protection in February 2004, after the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.

There were more agents in the theater yesterday, some undercover, some wearing temporary pins. Reporters who have covered the candidate for months said the increase in security was obvious.

But Secret Service agents have been blanketing the candidate for some time. At an event last month in Manchester, agents ordered people to step down from the chairs they were standing on to take photographs.

"We can't have them that high," one agent was heard to say. Agents surrounded the candidate as he worked a rope line, just as they do for President Bush.

While there were no metal detectors at yesterday's event, some guests with bags were checked as they entered. And while no helicopter hovered overhead, no sharpshooters eyed the streets from building tops and no black SUV stood nearby, packed with heavily armed agents — three signs the president is in the area — agents yesterday were anxious and very low on patience.

As Mr. Obama was 90 minutes late for the event, a couple of photographers stepped out a side door for a smoke. They were immediately ordered back into the theater by agents. Inside, one photographer was told he could not even carry a cup of coffee in the theater

Photographers have long complained about the aggressive tactics of Mr. Obama's protectors, saying they flank him at every stop, making photographs difficult. Some say they have been strong-armed by agents, pushed out of prime picture perches for security reasons.

The senator's prospects and popularity are rising quickly, creating new problems for his security detail. On Friday, hundreds of people gathered to see Mr. Obama went into a frenzy even before he came into the room, chanting the senator's signature phrase: "Fired up! Ready to go!"

An event organizer then said over a loudspeaker: "Ladies and gentleman, for security seasons, please take your seats."

Waldron and Hartmann to Publish New Book on JFK Murder

The authors of "Ultimate Sacrifice" will publish a new book in May 2008 on the murder of John F. Kennedy. Called "Legacy of Secrecy; The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination" the book will attempt to go beyond their previous one to show how Robert F. Kennedy continued to investigate his brother's death, even as Mafia dons conspired to hide the truth. "Ultimate Sacrifice" put forth the theory that JFK was attempting to orchestrate a coup in Cuba at the time of his death which is what necessitated an extensive government cover up of the real facts of the President's murder. "Legacy of Secrecy" claims to base some startling revelations on interviews with 24 of Robert Kennedy's associates as well as "newly declassified government files."

This new book promises to reveal:

• That the FBI obtained a confession from Carlos Marcello of his role in the assassination.
  
  
• FBI files of meetings between New Orleans mafia boss Carlos Marcello, Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby.
  
  
• Some U.S. officials engaged in a cover-up for legitimate reasons, while others hid the CIA/Mafia attempts to assassinate Castro.

• Contacts between James Earl Ray, Marcello, and a white supremacist who was involved in the president's murder as well as Martin Luther King's.
  
  
• The last mysteries of Watergate and the roles of Richard Helms and E. Howard Hunt in the break-in; why they recruited Cuban exiles for the job and just what Richard Nixon sought to find.

Published by Counterpoint Press. Release date of May 28, 2008.

Huckabee's Phone Call From God

Obama Leading Decisively in NH

	Rasmussen (12/16)	Survey USA (12/17-18)
Obama	42 (33)	50 (39)
Clinton	30 (33)	30 (41)
Edwards	14 (17)	16 (17)

So the numbers clearly show that Obama is going to win New Hampshire. I was looking forward to watching tomorrow night, but it's clear that Obama is going to score a decisive victory. The only interesting thing is whether Clinton will hang on to 2nd, or if Edwards can somehow catch her. Unfortunately I think she's going to hold onto 2nd. I'm hoping that she may drop out after New Hampshire, which would allow Edwards to stay in at least until Super Tuesday on February 5th.

After saying all this, however, it's clear to me that Obama is going to get the nomination. The rest of the primary process is just for show.

New Documentary: RFK Must Die

Shane O'Sullivan's documentary RFK Must Die has been released and is available from amazon.com, as well as Netflix. The website for the documentary is www.rkfmustdie.com. Among the controversial aspects of O'Sullivan's work is his allegation that three CIA officers were at the Ambassador Hotel the night of Robert Kennedy's assassination. This allegation is disputed by researchers including Jefferson Morley and David Talbot, who investigated it following O'Sullivan's BBC story, and wrote an essay entitled The BBC's Flawed RFK Story. O'Sullivan's reply to the essay is included at the end of the piece.

BREAKING NEWS: TALK OF HILLARY EXIT ENGULFS CAMPAIGNS

I don't like to spread rumors (okay, I do), but I heard this from a terrible source and I hate to reprint it (okay I love to reprint it). If this is anything close to true I'm going to be a very very happy man very very soon!

Facing a double-digit defeat in New Hampshire, a sudden collapse in national polls and an expected fund-raising drought, Senator Hillary Clinton is preparing for a tough decision: Does she get out of the race? And when?!

"She can't take multiple double-digit losses in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada," laments one top campaign insider. "If she gets too badly embarrassed, it will really harm her. She doesn't want the Clinton brand to be damaged with back-to-back-to-back defeats."

Meanwhile, Democrat hopeful John Edwards has confided to senior staff that he is staying in the race because Hillary "could soon be out."

Key players in Clinton's inner circle are said to be split. James Carville is urging her to fight it out through at least February and Super Tuesday, where she has a shot at thwarting Barack Obama in a big state. But others close to the former first lady now see no possible road to victory, sources claim.