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Title: Bachmann Rigged Iowa Poll by Buying “At Least” 4000 Votes
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URL Source: http://www.gcnlive.com/wp/2011/08/1 ... Cat-least%E2%80%9D-4000-votes/
Published: Aug 15, 2011
Author: GCN
Post Date: 2011-08-15 13:23:30 by christine
Keywords: None
Views: 266
Comments: 11
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is being called the “Queen of the Straw Poll” after her victory at the Iowa straw poll yesterday for the GOP presidential nomination. Bachmann, who finished with 4823 votes, narrowly beat second-place finisher Congressman Ron Paul who collected 4671 votes. The Ames poll, although important because of the early significance of Iowa in the primaries, is nonbinding and unscientific. AFP reported that “It has been criticized as playing too heavily in favor of candidates that are well financed, since their campaigns can buy the $30 tickets for their supporters to attend and presumably vote in their favor.” The Ames event was considered to be a Republican fundraiser, yet Bachmann’s campaign bought and “handed out at least 4,000 free tickets to supporters.” Therefore, Bachmann appears to have rigged the vote at a minimum direct cost of $120,000 to her campaign. It’s unclear whether any of the other candidates engaged in this same behavior. Another anomaly with the vote surfaced this morning when it was discovered that 218 votes went unaccounted for. In other words, these votes were in the overall tally but not registered to any of the candidates. One would think the media would attempt to uncover the discrepancy given the razor thin 152-vote margin between Bachmann and Paul. However, so far, they’ve been content to call her the “queen” of the event.
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#1. To: christine (#0)
Vote fraud/rigging in our polls? Say it ain't so, C.
Break the Conventions - Keep the Commandments - G.K.Chesterson
Say it ain't so, C. And it goes on unquestioned and unpunished... This is often at the heart of what I am talking about when I say we need to be solution orientated. In this case we should acknowledge the real winner and chasten anyone that buys into the lies...maybe send a stink bomb to the bachman offices for being such a skunk. ... THAT LAST PART! GET ON IT YALL!
You might want to reconsider that before you get a knock on the door. Just sayin'. I don't see that any case for fraud, which isn't exactly possible in a GOP fundraising scam straw poll like Ames to begin with. Think about it. At $30 per ticket, Paul and Bachmann proved they could raise money from donors to pay the costs of a victory. $30 * 4600 tickets = $138,000 Toss in another $50K for air-conditioned buses to haul the voters in. And another $25K for a good booth location. Another $25K for overhead and staff. So a win at Ames costs around $250,000. Some candidates, like Romney in 2008, spend a lot more. A ridiculous amount in fact. Ames is a stupid political event. Everyone should just ignore it completely.
There was a deliciously intriguing line in The Washington Post’s fine recap of Ames on Sunday. It said had Paul edged out Bachmann, “it would have hurt the credibility and future of the straw poll, a number of Republicans said.” "Mr. Prime Minister, there is only one important question facing us, and that is the question whether the white race will survive." -- Leonid Brezhnev to James Callahan
(1) Actually Bachman bought up 6000 ballots (at $30 each) and gave them away to prospective voters, which mean that she was cheated out of nearly $60,000 because nearly 2000 of those voters didn't cast the ballots she gave them. (2) The Ames Straw Poll is a classic fundraising scam. Ever since it began, it charges money to allow people to cast a vote, so it makes a considerable fortune from the well-heeled candidates. As the only people who cast votes are those who either got a $30 ballot for free from some candidate or who themselves felt strongly enough to spend their own $30 for a candidate who didn't give them a free ballot (not many of those, I bet), the results are hardly significant of anything. (3) While Bachman bought and gave away the most ballots, and came in first, Ron Paul spent the most money for the best booth location (also a fundraising scam) and came in second. Pawlenty did nearly nothing and still came in third, which I think says more for Pawlenty than it does for Bachman or Paul.
Very cute. Without saying so you insinuate an an association of equivalency, falsely, between Bachman and Ron Paul. Kudos to your script writer.
Video - Pawlenty Drops Out of the Presidential Race as Bachmann Takes Lead - WSJ.com
No "insinuation" -- both Bachmann & Paul spent lots of money and did well because they had that money to spend. The Ames Straw Poll is a fundraising scam in which only candidates willing and able to spend lots of money have a chance of getting high scores. Treating this straw poll as if it meant anything (just ask President Huckabee) makes it a weapon to bump off less-moneyed candidates. In this case, Perry's appearance and Palin's presence - though both were still undeclared candidates at that time - pretty much scrambles the tea leaves, so the straw poll means even less than it usually does. I think a lot of people feel that Pawlenty was foolish for bailing out after scoring third place, especially since he spent a lot less than Bachmann or Paul. Here's what the future holds: The Republicans will slash away at each other - and since their policies are so nearly identical, the slashing will be especially personal - and after one of them emerges from the Republican Convention next year, bruised and banged-up and exhausted and possibly with thrd party rivals to contend with, he (or she) will have to take on a rested and ready Obama.
Being perhaps even more cynical than you that is basically what I have been predicting for a while. It is the only way that Obama can convincingly be re-selected to continue the Bush Policies which began under Klinton. At this stage of the game the pResidential race is so thoroughly rigged that my major source of entertainment in watching it is to try and figure out how its being orchestrated before the next movement. And in the meantime Obama continues the bloody slaughter of innocents which began under Klinton, Kosovo, and accelerated under Bush the Execrable. Even though I despise Obama I have to admit I still despise that smarmy little psychopath Bush to an even greater degree. In an honest election Ron Paul would walk away from everyone currently announced and would beat Obama like the proverbial "Red Headed Step Child". I don't even have to agree with him on everything, and don't, but Ron Paul is still the class of the field.
#2. To: christine (#0)
#3. To: Lod (#1)
Vote fraud/rigging in our polls?
#4. To: titorite (#3)
...maybe send a stink bomb to the bachman offices for being such a skunk. ...
#5. To: christine (#0)
#6. To: christine (#0)
#7. To: Shoonra (#6)
While Bachman bought and gave away the most ballots, and came in first, Ron Paul spent the most money for the best booth location (also a fundraising scam) and came in second. Pawlenty did nearly nothing and still came in third, which I think says more for Pawlenty than it does for Bachman or Paul.
#8. To: Shoonra (#6)
. Pawlenty did nearly nothing and still came in third, which I think says more for Pawlenty than it does for Bachman or Paul.
#9. To: Original_Intent (#7)
#10. To: Shoonra (#9)
Here's what the future holds: The Republicans will slash away at each other - and since their policies are so nearly identical, the slashing will be especially personal - and after one of them emerges from the Republican Convention next year, bruised and banged-up and exhausted and possibly with thrd party rivals to contend with, he (or she) will have to take on a rested and ready Obama.
#11. To: christine, all (#0)
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