

With the presidential campaigns entering the home stretch, some have already declared a landslide for Sen. Barack Obama. As of Oct. 22 an AP-GFK poll put Obama at 44 percent and Sen. John McCain at 43. This comes out three weeks after they put Obama up by seven points.
In the event that McCain manages to pull off this election, there will be cries of a Republican conspiracy with electronic voting machines, disenfranchisement of newly registered voters whose registration forms do not check out, and racism, professionally known as "the Bradley Effect."
Electronic voting fraud had come up as an issue in the 2006 election cycle. Yet, they Democrats still managed to gain control of the House and Senate. If the Republicans secretly programmed them, they did a poor job. However, the thought of a Republican getting any votes is part of the vast Right-Wing conspiracy in some people's minds.
The validity of new voter registration cards has been called into question as well. When 105 percent of all eligible voters in Indianapolis are "registered," there is a problem. ACORN (Association of Community Organization for Reform Now) has been at the center of this controversy, but other smaller groups have also been involved. ACORN registered a second grader, Mickey Mouse, Batman, some of the Dallas Cowboys in Nevada, a pizza delivery guy 72 times and many deceased people. Unfortunately for the Obama campaign, these groups are not eligible to vote. The connection to the Obama campaign comes from Obama paying a group $800,000 in advance for the purpose of voter registration. This group has the exact same board of directors as ACORN. Obama and ACORN do not endorse registering people who are not qualified to vote, but Obama funds it, and ACORN didn't try very hard to prevent it.
According to their website, "ACORN has just completed the largest, most successful nonpartisan voter registration drive in U.S. history. We helped 1.3 million low-income, minority and young voters across the country register to vote." (www.acorn.com) It is hard to believe that the people they targeted when registering were based on nonpartisan efforts. It is much more likely that it was based upon how much money each candidate gave them to register voters. It doesn't help their case when people were offered money and cigarettes to register. As many as 16,000 cards are under investigation in Pennsylvania alone. ("Vote Early. Vote Often?," Wall Street Journal, Oct. 24) Putting conspiracies aside, the main reason Obama may lose the election is because of his radical policy proposals. However, this will be undermined by cries of racism. Bradley did not lose because of race; he lost because he supported strict gun control policies that drew unprecedented and under-polled rural voters whose absentee ballots were not counted by pollsters.
One of the most liberal proposals Obama is touting is the signing of the Freedom of Choice Act as his first act as President. It would negate any current laws impeding abortion access, such as waiting periods and parental notification, and would overturn the partial birth abortion ban. Nobody, even NARAL (Pro-Choice America) has supported other measures Obama has voted for previously.
Another example of his radical policies is his tax program. He plans to cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans. One third do not pay taxes in the first place.
Phillip Klein asked David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, about what the Obama tax cut would do to low-income Americans' tax rate. His response was, "I'll have to get you the exact rate differential." He followed up by having a staffer forward him general claims about the tax plan. Obama further justified his socialist plan by saying, "When you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." It looks like people may end up with returns for taxes they never paid. Another one of Obama's socialist policies is his healthcare program. It would use taxpayer money to subsidize insurance for everyone. It would also impose a fine of an undisclosed amount for people who do not wish to buy the insurance.
Although Obama may mean well, his plans are far more radical than the majority of voters are ready for. "Joe the Plumber," the most publicized example of an ordinary citizen who would "benefit" from Obama's plans, is rejecting them because socialism it is not part of our country's foundations. When Obama doesn't appeal to some of the people he should be most appealing to, there is a fundamental problem in his policies and campaign; racism or "the Bradley effect", voter fraud or machine manipulation will not be the reason he may lose this election.
(chicagoflame.com)