Those who need to gather their strength for the remaining three days of GOTV to defeat the Kiffmeyer-Newman voter restriction amendment might contemplate the potential for a rerun of the 2000 presidential election--and Kiffmeyer's close friendship with a central figure in that drama.
Yesterday at the Daily Beast, Michael Tomasky wrote in Planting the Seeds for Recounts and Riots:
. . .Forget Romney winning the popular vote and Obama winning the electoral vote. That's only happened four times. And if it does happen, Obama is the winner according to the Constitution. It wasn't the popular/electoral vote split that was the problem in 2000, it was the Florida voting.So consider this. Obama wins with 290 electoral votes, including Ohio (18) and Colorado (9). Let's say the margin is 1 percent or a little less in both of those states. He needs the electoral votes of both, of course, to pass 270.
You can bet the mortgage that Republicans will keep this thing going for weeks under such a situation. And they'll find the retired white military man whose ballot got lost or something and make a national symbol of him on Fox. That's what unnerves me. That this crap could go on for weeks. And you know the right would just be like feral wolves.
Just to remind you about the Florida voting--and who chummed up with the Florida voting sorter--Bluestem presents this old image from House Voter Restriction powerhouse Mary Kiffmeyer.
In advance of the party, AP's Brian Bakst wrote in Florida's Harris to speak, raise campaign money in Minnesota:
A central figure in the 2000 presidential recount, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, will spend a day in Minnesota next month talking about that race and raising money for Republican causes.
Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, a friend of Harris since both Republicans were elected in 1998, said Monday that the Sept. 14 visit is part of a Midwestern swing with stops in Iowa and Michigan.
Public events are yet to be scheduled, but Harris is to headline two evening fund-raisers.
According to an invitation from the state Republican Party, one is a $2,500-per-person reception at the Metropolitan Club in Golden Valley. The other, put on by Kiffmeyer, includes a mix-and-mingle hour for those who pay $100 followed by a $50-a-person general reception at which Kiffmeyer and Harris plan speeches.
Kiffmeyer acknowledged that it's odd to have a secretary of state be the big draw at fund-raisers so far from home, but she added that Harris was a key part of the recount that left the nation's presidency in flux for five weeks.
Harris oversaw the recount, which ended in favor of George W. Bush. She is considering a run for Congress; she cannot seek re-election because voters decided to make secretary of state an appointive office when her current term ends in January 2003.
Kiffmeyer reiterated Monday that she has made no final decision on her own political future, which could entail a re-election bid or a run for governor next year.
She played down the political aspect of Harris' visit and described the stop as a chance to highlight problems with election equipment and recount standards.
"The opportunity to hear firsthand about Florida from the Florida secretary of state is an opportunity I'm eager to have my Minnesota citizens be able to hear," Kiffmeyer said.(Full text from Nexis All News, Accessed 11/3/2012)
Apparently, the fundraiser never took place, since the tragedy of September 11 grounded air travel.
For a collection of Kiffmeyer's splendid voter suppression while she was Secretary of State might read Phoenix Woman's excellent GOP’s War on Voting, Minnesota Edition: The Twelve Ways of ALEC’s Kiffmeyer to Disenfranchise Us.
The scary terrorist notice that Kiffmeyer hoped to put up it in polling places should be on the list, and Bluestem posts it here.
To volunteer for GOTV to defeat Kiffmeyer's latest scheme to restrict voters (and to see Chris Kluwe's video appeal), click here.
Related post: Winona Co $1 million voter restriction bill would suck up money better spent on real problems
Photos: the invite and terrorism notice.
Why does it not surprise me that these two skeevy people would be best buds?
And that's not even taking into consideration Harris' relationship with Jeb Bush, about whom the stink of corruption is so strong, it's what's kept him from running for the presidency even though he was thought to be better "presidential timber" than his elder brother.
Posted by: Phoenix Woman | Nov 04, 2012 at 09:53 AM