Ohio Republicans are ratcheting up their efforts to cast doubt on the results of the election in Ohio, unless of course, they win, in which case the results will be completely legitimate:
The Ohio Republican Party launched Tuesday a radio ad that opens with the sound of a ticking clock and asks, "Could Ohio's election be stolen?"In suggesting that "many" voting registrations in the state "may be fraudulent," the 60-second spot cites the case of a Cleveland man who has told election officials and news reporters that he signed multiple registration cards in exchange for cigarettes. The ad says that the man was "bribed to register 72 different times and vote illegally."
As The Washington Post notes, the latter claim is a complete fabrication.
Mike West, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in Cleveland, said Tuesday that the board has uncovered 80 registration cards with Freddie Johnson's name on them that were submitted since January, "but he has never voted. ... We have no record of him ever voting."
The ad also accuses Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner of "concealing evidence" by refusing to give the Ohio GOP a list of 200,000 mismatched voters, although the ad never specifically says what "evidence" she is concealing. But in this case, the Supreme Court of the United States of America is an accessory to Brunner, since it sided with her when the Ohio GOP sued to get the list.
At this point, it may be less about actually winning the election than casting enough doubt on the result to create a backlash should Obama win the state.
--A. Serwer
