GOP says Obama is "soft on crime" and "against protecting children from danger"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

GOP says Obama 'soft on crime'

By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY – 6 hours ago

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Republicans are going after Barack Obama's record on crime and punishment in a new mail piece accusing the Democratic presidential candidate of being "soft on crime."

The flier sent by the Republican Party in Nevada and other states this week says Obama has voted against tough penalties for drug and gang-related crimes, and is against "protecting children from danger."

To back up the last claim the party cites a 1999 Illinois state Senate bill that allowed juveniles to be prosecuted as adults for firing a gun near schools. As an Illinois state senator, Obama voted "present" on the bill. His campaign says Obama did not believe there was evidence to prove the stiffer punishment would prevent juvenile crime.

The mailer, which includes pictures of guns, cash, drugs and close-ups of the candidate, also quotes an editorial published in the journal Investor's Business Daily. The editorial said Obama "acted more as a friend to criminals than to cops .... "

The piece describes Obama as "Not who you think he is."

The Obama campaign issued a statement Wednesday from Tom Nee, president of the National Association of Police Organizations, denouncing the mailer as the most dishonest attack "from an increasingly dishonest, dishonorable campaign."

"It's clear that Sen. McCain and his agents would rather distort facts and scare people than talk about his disastrous public safety and economic policies that offer no change from the last eight years," Nee said.

Zachary Moyle, executive director of the Nevada GOP, said the flier was sent to more than 100,000 Nevada households where voters had identified crime as a top concern. Most of the campaign mail circulated by the state party is developed nationally and dropped in key states.

"The American people are still unfamiliar with Sen. Obama and we feel it's important to bring to light his positions on all the issues. One of the reasons he's had the success he's had is that people don't know much about him," Moyle said.

Separately, Obama's campaign has complained to the secretary of state about suspicious telephone calls it says are attempting to suppress the vote.

The campaign sent a memo Monday that says two Spanish-speaking men in northern Nevada were contacted by someone purportedly from the Obama campaign. The caller tried to collect personal information and then offered to help the men vote over the phone.

Voters may cast ballots only at designated polling places or by mail-in ballot.

Obama campaign attorney Janet Hostetler described the calls as "an effort to cause them to forfeit their voting rights."

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