General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Long-timers: What was the deal with the election in 2004 [View all]brush
(53,764 posts)Kerry dramatically closed the gap on Bush after the debates, partly because of a photo release of an apparently hidden electronic device under Bush's jacket during one of the debates that could have been feeding him answers (see photo here http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2012). Kerry delivered a strong performance as well. Also in Ohio, Robert Kennedy jr. documented many instances of voter suppression in democratic strongholds. Thousands waited for hours in lines in inner-city Cleveland at polling places that were purposely under supplied with voting machines. Many of those people never got to vote before the polls closed. There were many other instances of repug skullduggery that suppressed up to 350,000 dem votes that would have swung Ohio and thus the election in Kerry's favor. (http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2006/06/transcript-robert-f-kennedy-jr-stolen-2004-election-jun-02-2006) The Ohio Secretary of State, repug Kenneth Blackwell, who supervised the election, was also the state chairman of the Bush campaign, a huge conflict of interest to say the least. And do I even have to mention what a huge incentive to manipulate the final vote count Blackwell's chairmanship of the Bush campaign was. Can you say Diebold voting machines.