"Edwards banking on South Carolina to turn fortunes around"

[last_texas_dem]

Edwards banking on South Carolina to turn fortunes around
by Dan Lothian

>>>>SUMMERVILLE, South Carolina (CNN) -- Former Sen. John Edwards, a native of South Carolina, is riding a bus across that state to recapture the glory from his 2004 win there and boost his struggling presidential campaign.

Since finishing third in New Hampshire, he's spent more time in South Carolina than any of his Democratic opponents, and as he tours the state, he's telling supporters that his roots give him a unique perspective on their struggles.

"You've watched the mills close, the jobs leave -- it's been devastating for middle-class families. It is something that I take very personally because my grandparents worked in the mills, my dad worked in the mills, right here in South Carolina. And I know what it means when the mill closes and the jobs leave," the Democratic presidential candidate told voters gathered for a town hall meeting in Summerville, South Carolina.

The former North Carolina senator won the South Carolina primary in 2004 but his campaign later stalled.>>>>>

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/12/edwards.sc/index.html

[kurth]

1. Media boss to journalist hacks: Raise the expectations

They've been trying very hard to knock him out.

[ursi]

2. Keep kicking ass, John Edwards! You are the only one who takes a stand

against the corrupt soul of this country's leadership.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. He's the only honest one discussing the real scourge on this country: corporations nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. He Has A Lot Of Ground To Cover

It should be interesting...

[cali]

4. If the Clinton/Obama race thing keeps up

he may have a chance- but it's unlikely to materialize in SC where 50% of the dem primary voters are AA.

[Renew Deal]

7. Split the white vote

And Obama comes out big.

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. Chasing cards...throwing good money after bad...

[Peace Patriot]

8. Take a look at this--a map of the voting system in SC...

http://www.verifiedvoting.org/verifier/map.php?&topic_string=5std&year=2006&state=South%20Carolina

SC looks to be all ES&S touchscreen voting - no ballot, no paper trail, no means of verification.

Now go review Dan Rather's "The Trouble With Touchscreens" (www.HD.net). A lot of it is about ES&S, whose voting machines are manufactured in sweatshops in the Philippines; about the insanity of no paper trail voting; and about these election theft corporations' complicity in the punchcard debacle in Florida in 2000 (which one whistleblower attributes to their wanting to create a market for e-voting, and another attributes to their participation in the FL 2000 election theft, by providing inferior paper for the punchcards, which stretched out, causing more "hanging chads" and all the chaos that led to the Supreme Court stopping the recount and crowning Bush).

ES&S is actually worse than Diebold, as to far rightwing ties. ES&S was a spinoff of Diebold (similar computer architecture) and their initial funder and a major investor is far rightwing billionaire Howard Ahmanson, who also gave one million dollars to the extremist 'christian' Chalcedon foundation, which touts the death penalty for homosexuals (among other things). It was ES&S whose lawyers argued in court, in the FL-13 case in 2006 (where 18,000 votes for Congress were 'disappeared' by ES&S machines in Democratic areas, in an election 'won' by the Bushite--of course--by only 350 or so votes) that ES&S's "right" to profit from our elections with their 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY vote counting code TRUMPS the right of the voters to know how their votes are counted, even in a highly questionable election such as FL-13. The Jeb judge agreed, and that was that. End of our democracy, as far as I'm concerned. And not a whimper from Pelosi and our so-called Democratic Congress (which has the power to remedy this, which overrides court power).

If the corporate rulers want to kill Edwards' candidacy, they can EASILY do so. Nothing to stop them from programming the SC machines to finish him off.

Which is why Edwards ought to be defending Dennis Kucinich's right to be in the debates (and also his right to be on the Texas ballot--which the Democratic Party of Texas just violated), so that he can continually raise this issue of the extremely riggable voting system, as Kucinich has done now in New Hampshire. Kucinich has challenged the result and demanded a recount, on behalf of all voters--and they're going to charge him $80,000 for the recount, cuz he's not a top tier candidate. Edwards should contribute to this cause, openly support it and get Kucinich back in the debates. It's Edwards' only chance.

I wonder why Edwards has not challenged ES&S voting machines in SC before now. I think he knows that 2004 was stolen. He has expressed doubts about the machines. That's one of the reasons I like him. He not only knows--he has said something (unlike all other candidates except Kucinich). But ES&S appears to be firmly entrenched all over SC. Perhaps he is afraid of them. I can understand that. They are bad, bad dudes. But it's time to go for broke. If the election theft industry and the war profiteering corporate news monopolies are going to push him out anyway, he might as well go down fighting--and help the rest of us win the election integrity battle in the long run.