At the end of the day

Obama wins SC primary in a landslide -- CNN: Obama 55%, Clinton 27%, Edwards 18%. Gender and age breakouts at the link.

Congratulations were personally extended to Obama from Hillary and Bill Clinton.

Edwards on campaigning spouses -- "I believe that spouses have the right to speak their minds. In his case, [Bill] happens to be an ex-president. But my wife Elizabeth speaks her mind. And I think they're entitled to do that. It's a democracy. That's the way it works. People can agree or disagree with what they say, but they're not required to go home and sit around and be quiet. That's just the way I view it." The Trail

Track Democratic delegates by candidate here.

Gadfly calls attention to an argument that "the current Bush-Cheney regime has been a co-presidency." Thus, "respected historian Wills argues against a Clinton co-presidency. A definite liberal, Wills isn’t arguing against Hillary Clinton’s policies, just the co-presidency idea. Given the fact that Democratic big brass such as Sen. Ted Kennedy are trying at this very moment to get Bill to pipe down, with limited results, it’s a legitimate concern." Personally, I would be worried if Bill Clinton were batshit crazy like Dick Cheney. And American voters will have the last word.

Dick Sargent wrote about an NBC interview with Obama in which Barack "denied he'd personally accused the Clintons of racism." Obama reiterated, "I don't view [the Clintons] as having gone after me on the basis of race." Yesterday, Steve Hildebrand, a senior adviser for Obama, said, "[The Clintons] look at everything through racial lines, gender lines, geographic lines... ...They are playing the same old-style games." Crikey.

Rudy has a new secret weapon -- Bwahahahahahaha!

Meow! Pffft! Pffft! -- "Sen. John McCain of Arizona accused former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney of having once supported a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, sparking an angry demand for an apology from Romney, who called the statement dishonest.' " And it got uglier. Campaigning in Florida, McCain: "If we surrender and wave a white flag, like Senator Clinton wants to do, and withdraw, as Governor Romney wanted to do, then there will be chaos, genocide, and the cost of American blood and treasure would be dramatically higher." Mitt shot back attacking "McCain's economic policy experience" and released an ad on Friday that "uses clips of political pundits on network news shows to argue that the Republican Party's distrust of McCain runs long and deep." Other video samples of McCain vs. Romney ads posted yesterday.

If you're into placing a bet on Election 2008, take heed via Kevin Drum.

Doubts still linger over Florida's voting machines. If it's as bad as the Diebold touch screens in Georgia... Uh oh. And in Ohio, "The ACLU of Ohio has sued the Secretary of State and Cuyahoga County to block the switch to a new voting system in time for the March 4 presidential primary."

For a real Democrat from Orlando, FL -- Alan Grayson! Alan Grayson! Alan Grayson! Additional commentary and an incredible CBS video on whistle-blower Grayson's fight against war-profiteering at Down With Tyranny!

Krugman posted distribution tables from the economic stimulus program of "who gets what from tax plans." He also noted, "it’s only thanks to the Democrats that people likely to spend their rebate are getting anything at all.... this plan will produce some stimulus, while the Bush plan would have done virtually nothing." Data source: Tax Policy Center

Reaching for his FISA-colored crayon -- President Bush threatened to veto “a 30-day extension of an expiring eavesdropping law and instead wants an expanded version to be passed by Friday.” In response, Harry Reid (D-CA) said: "There will be no terrorism intelligence collection gap... But if there is any problem, the blame will clearly and unequivocally fall where it belongs: on President Bush and his allies in Congress." The WH gave the House Intel Committee "access to necessary documents on Thursday – eight months after they were requested," according to chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX). Shorter version: SSDD at the Bush regime.

Pakistan says no -- "Mr. Musharraf rebuffed proposals to expand any American combat presence in Pakistan, either through unilateral covert C.I.A. missions or by joint operations with Pakistani security forces." Furthermore, Musharraf expressed "that any unilateral action by the United States would be regarded as an invasion." Sunday NYT

[That's all...no more after the jump.]

There's more: "At the end of the day" >>

Electronic voting still unaccountable

Voting machines: Can you trust them? The issue heats up nationally as one state faces a lawsuit.

Once again, electronic voting problems have resurfaced as Topic A during the election season. MoveOn.org sent email alerts to sign an "urgent petition asking local, state, and federal officials to require paper ballots" and cited the Sunday NYTimes Magazine cover story, "Can You Count on Voting Machines?" The answer is no. Next week, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) plans to introduce an emergency bill to fund a "push for paper ballots and vote count audits" before November 2008. With so much at stake, we can't afford to allow our next president and legislators to be decided by unreliable e-voting machines.

In Georgia, the electronic voting fight will head to court after years of battling resistance to overhaul the state's Diebold touch-screen system with a verifiable audit trail. On July 13, 2006, VoterGA.org filed suit to challenge the state's e-voting -- a system that was nationally ranked last by the conservative D.C.-based Free Congress Foundation. Says a lot, doesn't it? When the lawsuit comes before a Superior Court judge next month, voters will hopefully learn what election remedies the state must undertake if VoterGA wins its motion for summary judgment.

The counts in the lawsuit -- which names the Georgia State Election Board, former Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox (D), and Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) as defendants -- are persuasive. Via email, I received an update from Garland Favorito of VoterGA (with emphasis):

...the lawyers are currently finishing a motion for Summary Judgment in which we are asking the judge to rule in our favor on each count because the state has admitted most of our contentions in deposition.

...the evidence was clear the electronic voting machines were acquired illegally in 2001 [count No. 8] and never properly certified before use in 2002 [count No. 9].

The lawsuit was amended to include this new evidence to bolster the case. As a result, VoterGA's attorney Walker Chandler agreed to an extension giving the defendants time to examine the acquisition and certification evidence until the newly-agreed February 2008 court date.

We now have completed what I think is an absolutely compelling case and have a good chance to win some of the counts without a trial. If we win any one of seven counts we will have essentially won the suit against the current voting machine implementation and the state will be forced to make a major change. Here is an overview of the counts of the lawsuit:

[Keep reading... more after the jump!]

1. The state law currently attempts to exempt voting machines from the Constitutional requirement to produce a ballot

2. The Georgia Constitution states that elections are conducted by the people but the people cannot even verify any of the three key aspects of voting,

Choosing candidates on their ballot;

Casting their ballot;

Counting the votes.

3. The law requires that every ballot be recorded correctly and accurately at the time the voting machines are used on Election Day and it is impossible to implement any procedure to confirm that the ballots cast on Election Day were recorded correctly and accurately.

4. A re-accumulation of electronic ballots has and will always produce the same results as the original count and therefore subverts the intent of the law that entitles candidates to a legitimate recount of votes when the margin of victory is within 1% of the total votes cast.

5. The electronic voting machine implementation does not provide Constitutionally required equal protection for electronic voters vs. optically scanned absentee ballot voters because:

Electronic ballots can only be re-accumulated and not recounted for recounts

Electronic ballots can only be re-accumulated and not recounted when it is necessary to investigate discrepancies

The voter cannot verify what is on an electronic ballot as they can on an optical scanned ballot

6. The law requires that every ballot be recorded correctly and accurately at the time the voting machines are used on Election Day and the new technology piloted in 2006 still renders it impractical to implement a procedure to confirm that the ballots cast on Election Day were recorded correctly and accurately.

7. The new technology piloted in 2006 produces a sequential roll of ballots in the exact order in which the voters voted and therefore cannot ensure secrecy of the ballot as required by the Georgia Constitution

8. The electronic voting machines were procured illegally in 2001 because the law required them to have an independent audit trail for each vote cast and the machines do not have any such capability that is independent of the machine or its vote casting mechanism

9. The voting machines that were implemented in 2002 were improperly certified because:

The state is unable to produce the state certification reports required by state law

The machines do not meet the 1990 and 2002 federal standards that require them to prevent fraudulent manipulation the vote and identify each person to whom access is granted,

The machines were not recertified after they were patched in the summer of 2002

10. The judge has the authority to rule on these matters (Mandamus)

Essentially, the state's Diebold electronic voting system remains unaccountable and "cannot be verified, audited, or recounted."

Garland Favorito, one of the plaintiffs, will provide more details in the future as the case progresses. All state electors, the plaintiffs on behalf of approximately nine million voters include eight members from a wide spectrum of political affiliations -- the Constitution Party, the Georgia Green Party, a Democratic campaign worker, the Libertarian Action Network, and the non-partisan group Defenders of Democracy.

Something as fundamentally democratic as voting can bring together a diverse mix of folks. On getting e-voting right, they are united.

There's more: "Electronic voting still unaccountable" >>

Florida Is On The Paper Trail

Today, Senator Bill Nelson filled a bill in the Senate to require, nationwide, that voting machines produce a paper record for every vote cast. The press release notes that this is a companion bill to one introduced in the House by Rep. Rush Holt with one significant difference:

It also would ban conflicts of interest on the part of state election czars who
would be banned from working for others' campaigns. In 2000, then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris oversaw Florida's recount while also serving as a top campaign official for GOP candidate George W. Bush.

This is critically important and should be included in the House bill. Once passed, I believe Nelson's version will be closer to the one that comes out of conference.

This is on the heels of a more comprehensive program introduced for the state of Florida by new Republican governor, Charlie Crist.

What! Florida is introducing election reform that is more comprehensive than just requiring a paper trail? The answer is "Yes."

Governor Crist not only proposes a paper trail for every vote but also a required switch away from touch screen voting to optical scanners for all but the disabled. And, the touch screen machines will have to be retro-fitted with a printer to make a paper record.

The most important aspect of his proposal: He includes 100% of the funding necessary in his newly proposed budget. No county - my reddest of red included - can use the usual excuse that the State is mandating things but isn't providing money so they can't do it. Genius, I tell you.

The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board loves the idea and thinks it should be a national mandate.

Oh my god! Dante must have been right about the 9th circle of Hell. It must be frozen for the Sentinel and I to be in agreement over politics again.

There's more: "Florida Is On The Paper Trail" >>