The BRAD BLOG : Alan Breslauer

NPR Finds a 'Dramatic Shift' to Democrats Among Rural Voters

By Alan Breslauer on 10/27/2006 11:38am PT

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

NPR's Morning Edition ran a 2006 election story today centered around a poll of rural voters in "41 heavily contested congressional districts" which has shown a "dramatic shift" in favor of Democrats in the last month.

Twelve days before the midterm elections, Republican congressional incumbents are struggling to corral a key voter group --- rural residents. A new bipartisan poll indicates that Democrats now dominate rural voters, a critical part of the Republican base.

The poll was conducted for the non-partisan Center for Rural Strategies, a Kentucky group working to attract attention to rural issues.

Five hundred likely rural voters were surveyed in 41 heavily contested congressional districts and six states with close Senate races. Most of the House districts surveyed have Republican incumbents. Fifty-two per cent of the respondents indicate they'll vote for Democratic congressional candidates; 39 percent say they'll support Republicans.

This is a dramatic shift from a similar poll conducted last month. At that time, the rural voters polled split the congressional vote evenly.

"This is not encouraging information for Republicans," says Bill Greener, the Republican political consultant who supervised and analyzed the bipartisan poll. "And I think that to pretend otherwise is not helpful."

The bad news is that Karl Rove told NPR a couple of days ago that he doesn't believe the polls and is confident that Republicans will hold on to the House and the Senate. Over the last three election cycles Rove has proven himself a far better gauge of elections than just about any poll. It's uncanny.

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Article Categories: Election 2006

Tucker Carlson Feels 'Morally Blackmailed' by Michael J. Fox Campaign Ad

Tells McCaskill it's 'Unfair' for Her to Run the Ad...

By Alan Breslauer on 10/25/2006 6:40pm PT

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

Tucker Carlson speaking today to Missouri Senate candidate Claire McCaskill about the Michael J. Fox stem cell research ad she is running in her effort to unseat Republican Jim Talent:

It's a form of moral blackmail. No matter where you stand on stem cell research, I look at this ad and say I can't disagree with Michael J. Fox. Because his illness is so sad it pulls on me emotionally so much that it feels immoral to me to disagree with him. And I think its unfair of you to run this ad for that reason...

...This is not a conversation about Michael J. Fox, his celebrity or his disease. It's a question about stem cell research and whether its moral or immoral.

So Tucker is a bit uncomfortable with the video because he feels like it makes his views appear immoral. But, since that cannot be the case, it must be McCaskill's fault for putting him in the awkward position in the first place. How dare she play on his emotions by showing a real person being ravaged by a horrible disease. Really, what does any of it have to do with the stem cell debate?

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Article Categories: MSNBC, Missouri

Video the Vote 2006

Citizen Journalists Needed...Don't Let Them Fool You Again...

By Alan Breslauer on 10/25/2006 5:03pm PT

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

Enlist at www.VideoTheVote.org.

Watch for more from VelvetRevolution.us soon.

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Article Categories: Election Irregularities, Election 2004, Election 2006

ABC World News Tonight: Election System 'Utterly Unsecured'

Experts Begging Diebold to 'Come Back to Reality, Secure Nation's Voting'

Is that the Diebold Secret Source Code that Arrived in my Mail Today?

By Alan Breslauer on 10/22/2006 10:50pm PT

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

Diebold's "system is utterly unsecured," said cyber-security expert Stephen Spoonamore in the online print version of ABC World News' report on Sunday Night.

Spoonamore continued, "The entire cyber-security community is begging them to come back to reality and secure our nation's voting."

With the election only 16 days away, ABC World News worries "about another Florida style ballot fiasco" in tonight's e-voting segment. One major concern, it seems, is that e-voting machine maker Diebold's source code is turning up in random mail boxes, as The BRAD BLOG reported last Thursday. Yet, despite this latest revelation coming on the heels of a Princeton study evidencing the ease in which Diebold machines could be hacked, Diebold maintains everything is peachy.

-- ABC's Video report here...
-- ABC's printed report (with additional details) here...

UPDATE FROM BRAD 9:22pm PT:

We're delighted to see that ABC News has finally decided that there is a story here worth reporting. Wish they had come on board long ago. In any case, the print version of their story, written by Jake Tapper, Rebecca Abrahams and Eduardo Sunol, has several notable details above and beyond the video report. In addition to the comments from Spoonamore above, there's this...

Diebold, the company that makes the voting machines, told ABC News, "These discs do not alter the security of the Diebold touch-screen system in any way," because election workers can set their own passwords.

But ABC News has obtained an independent report commissioned by the state of Maryland and conducted by Science Applications International Corporation revealing that the original Diebold factory passwords are still being used on many voting machines.

The SAIC study also shows myriad other security flaws, including administrative over-ride passwords that cannot be changed by local officials but can be used by hackers or those who have seen the discs.

The report further states that one of the high risks to the system comes if operating code discs are lost, stolen or seen by unauthorized parties --- precisely what seems to have occurred with the discs sent to Kagan, who worries that the incident indicates the secret source code is not that difficult to obtain.

"Certainly, just tweaking a few votes in a couple of states could radically change the outcome of our policies for the coming year," she said.

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Article Categories: Diebold/Premier, Election Irregularities, Election 2006, Election Fraud

CNN: American Democracy Threatened By E-Voting Machines

Jack Cafferty's 'Broken Government' Report: 'The greatest democracy the world has ever known is in trouble'

By Alan Breslauer on 10/22/2006 3:39pm PT

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

(Hat tip to BRAD BLOG emailer Mike from The Campaign to Give Jack Cafferty a Show)

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Article Categories: Diebold/Premier, CNN, Election 2006

Mexico's Election Fraud

What the U.S. Media Didn't Tell You

By Alan Breslauer on 10/21/2006 10:35am PT

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

With the US election looming, Kenneth Anderson revisits the recent Mexican presidential election for the November/December issue of The Humanist (go directly to PDF).

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Article Categories: Election Fraud, Mexico

LOU DOBBS - WANTED: Graduate Students to Fix E-Voting Machines

Earn up to $350/day

Apply online at monster.com and other employment websites

By Alan Breslauer on 10/20/2006 11:34pm PT

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

Lou Dobbs and Kitty Pilgrim report on the frenzy to hire computer science graduate students by state officials fearing an e-voting machine disaster on election day. Dobbs also has a brief report on the Supreme Court decision upholding (for now) the new Arizona law requiring photo IDs of voters.

- QuickTime Player version...

The text-transcript of Friday's segment on Lou Dobbs Tonight follows in full...

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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Article Categories: Lou Dobbs, Arizona, Election 2006

NIGHTLINE VIDEO: A Window Into the Iraq Chaos

The Story of One Iraqi Doctor

By Alan Breslauer on 10/19/2006 2:38pm PT

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

Through the eyes of Dr. Jamal Taha-Enad, an Iraqi trauma surgeon that Nightline has been following around Iraq for two years, this video provides a remarkable glimpse into life in Baghdad. Powerful and heart-wrenching, the video is also notable for evidencing the graphic violence of war --- something almost unheard of in today's mainstream press.

After the segment is a partial interview of President Bush by George Stephanopoulos that also aired on last night's program.

-- Streaming Flash version...

UPDATE: Video pulled from Blip.tv and my account was shut down. I could not find video on Nightline site either. Please post a link if anyone comes by the video elsewhere. Thanks. (Alan Breslauer)

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Article Categories: Iraq War

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