Another nailbiter

With 662 out of 763 precincts reporting, Paul Hackett is down by 870 votes -- and nothing has been reported for the last hour. The last precincts are all in Clairmont County, which tends to vote Republican, but which has a number of auto plants. It should be Schmidt territory, but they're not reporting in yet -- which in my book means that something's going on, and it has nothing to do with counting votes that were actually cast.

Mike Malloy is reporting hearing from people in Democratic precincts who reported to their polling place and found it closed or found it had "moved." Clairmont officials are claiming that because of the humidity, the optical scans were "sticking". Jean Schmidt was seen within 100 feet of polling places handing out goodies -- free nail files, by some reports. When asked by one poll worker to leave, she refused. This was apparently caught on video. I'm sure Crooks and Liars will have it when it's available. Malloy says one voter reported voting in a facility where a poll worker was reading a book by Sean Hannity.

So it's 2004 all over again. I wonder if they'll find little stickers covering the marks for Hackett the way the Republicans covered up votes for Kerry last year.

They will NOT let any more votes for Hackett be counted if it looks like he'll win.

And that's why the message doesn't matter, the candidate doesn't matter, none of it matters as long as people are prevented from voting and the votes that ARE cast aren't counted properly.

The fact of the matter is that today's Republican party has absolutely ZERO respect for the process. It's all about winning -- at any cost -- even if you have to steal it.