All eyes should be on Ohio. The Republicans appear to be ready to pull another one of their infamous election year magic tricks. Suddenly Secretary of State Ken Blackwell - who is running for Governor and losing - has the power to disqualify his opponent.
But with America under the rule of the One Party, dirty election year tricks are just business as usual.
NY Times Editorial -- And the Winner Is ... Me
Voters in Ohio can be forgiven if they feel they have been beamed out of the Midwest and dropped into a third-world autocracy. The latest news from the state’s governor’s race is that the Republican nominee, Kenneth Blackwell, who is also the Ohio secretary of state, could rule that his opponent is ineligible to run because of a technicality. We’d like to think that his office would not ultimately do that, or that if it did, such a ruling would not be allowed to stand. But the mere fact that an elected official and political candidate has the authority to toss his opponent out of a race is further evidence of a serious flaw in our democracy.
Ted Strickland, the Democratic nominee, is leading Mr. Blackwell by as much as 28 points, according to one recent poll. In their panic, some Blackwell supporters have hit on the idea of trying to prevent the election from occurring. One of them filed a complaint alleging that Mr. Strickland, who is a member of Congress, does not live in the apartment where he is registered to vote. Mr. Strickland owns a condominium in another part of Ohio, and the complaint alleges that he actually lives there. If Mr. Strickland was not a qualified voter, he would be prohibited from running for governor.
The complaint itself is without merit. . .
In 2004, Mr. Blackwell chose to become co-chairman of President Bush’s Ohio campaign, and then issued rulings that helped the campaign. Now we have the even more bizarre prospect of Mr. Blackwell, or his deputy, potentially participating in the baseless disqualification of his opponent.
We are confident it will not come to that.
The Times should not be so confident. After all, the One Party hasn't yet ruled on the matter.
No one should be confident that elections in this country are fair and honest.
Why isn't the United Nations monitoring our elections? Because the One Party won't let them.
Ohio Blackwell Ted Strickland Republicans Election 2006 Bush Politics One Party Election Fraud News
