Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Tuesday 01/08/08

[Melissa G]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Tuesday 01/08/08


Esteemed DUer's, please consider taking a moment (or more)
to graciously participate by posting Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.




If you can:
1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.


2. Post stories using the Spring 2006 Edition of "Election Fraud and Reform News Directory" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240

3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.


4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.




Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).
Thank You!

[Melissa G]

1. States n/t

[Melissa G]

8. Western Montana officials talk about faulty voting machines

Western Montana officials talk about faulty voting machines

Posted: Jan 8, 2008 11:42 AM CST

Updated: Jan 8, 2008 11:44 AM CST


Election officials in Montana say that they remain confident that their voting machines are fine, despite an Ohio report saying that similar units have "critical security failures".

Some 44 of the 56 counties in the state use one or more ES&S voting machines and the report says researchers found the M-100 Optical Scanners are "susceptible to attacks" at the polls and that could "affect election integrity." The report goes on to say that other ES&S units have faults and could be tampered with.

Missoula, Flathead and Ravalli counties use those machines, but the elections officials we talked with say the systems are certified by the state according to federal guidelines and the have been reliable during elections.

Flathead County Election Services Manager Monica Eisenzimer says she still has confidence in the machines.

"We're confident that the machines we use are the best there is right now, technology is always going to happen, so maybe there will be something better in the future, but with the right people, there's nothing to worry about."

(Editorial:sarcasm: nothing to worry about just move along...we 'right people' got your votes covered.)

[Melissa G]

10. CA- Merced County tests voting machines

Merced County tests voting machines
By SCOTT JASON
MERCED SUN-STAR

last updated: January 08, 2008 03:48:12 AM

MERCED -- Elections officials spent Monday making sure electronic ballot readers were free from digital hiccups in preparation for the California primary election.

In a windowless room in the Merced County administration building's basement, four election workers fed 242 pre-marked ballots through each of the 114 electronic precinct machines, which turn oval ink dots into democracy.

"We want everything to be absolutely accurate," said John Walker, Merced County's special projects coordinator. "The only way is to do mundane things like this."

Double-checking the voting machines, a process open to the public, is done before every election to make sure the democratic process is preserved in the digital age. Walker said issues are rare with the ballot readers, which each cost about $4,000.
snip
Despite criticism, electronic voting is much more efficient and accurate than paper ballots, Walker said. "I challenge anyone to find something wrong with the machines," he said.
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/173499.html

(Ed note: I hope someone takes him up on his challenge)

The readers record each precinct's results to a data card, which on election night is plugged into a computer, which reads the results in 1.3 seconds.
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/173499.html

[Melissa G]

17. CA-VALLEJO- Mayoral loser files suit to overturn vote

VALLEJO
Mayoral loser files suit to overturn vote
Christopher Heredia

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Former Vallejo City Councilman and mayoral candidate Gary Cloutier filed suit Monday in an attempt to void the results of the November election, which his chief opponent, Osby Davis, won by two votes.

Cloutier's suit, filed in Solano County Superior Court, alleges that a recount in December included several irregularities, including at least one discarded ballot and improper supervision of the hand recount. The recount showed Davis finishing with 5,718 votes to Cloutier's 5,716.

Cloutier asks in his suit that the court name him mayor or call for a special election.

This article appeared on page B - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/08/BAGF6UB1S7.DTL&type=politics

[Melissa G]

18. Satire alert FL-Florida too Dangerous for United Nations

Florida too Dangerous for United Nations

by Kamal El-Din



Unconfined sources report that the UN has grave doubts about upcomming elections in Florida. With a string of election irregularities in the southern state, the UN would like to monitor the presidential elections in November if the security situation improves.
Speaking off the record officials expressed doubts that a free and fair election can take place in a province where the leader has such strong ties to the sitting President. "We feel the history of undue influence is there."

On the question of security the same official expressed concerns. "We are reviewing The situation on the ground in Florida day to day, particularly the areas know as "Dade country" and "West Palm." There has been so much government corruption in these areas The UN feels they need special attention."

Speaking to the UN's reluctance to station staffers in Florida the official laments "Any time you loose a friend, a close friend, in a tragic and senseless attack security becomes your primary concern for continuing operations. "

http://www.unconfirmedsources.com/index.php?itemid=771

[Melissa G]

19. ALL Diebold ALL the Time - It's the New Hampshire Primary

2008 Election Presidential Primary; New Hampshire

January 8, 2008 at 02:55:05

ALL Diebold ALL the Time - It's the New Hampshire Primary

by Michael Collins Page 1 of 2 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com




It's the New Hampshire Primary

(c) 2004-06 Rand Careaga/salamander.eps

"1st in the Nation" with Corporate Controlled,
Secret Vote Counting


By Nancy Tobi
Democracy for
New Hampshire

Introduction. The more things stay the same, the worse they smell

By Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.

Tomorrow's New Hampshire primary represents a major turning point in the presidential primaries. We've got the rising star of Obama, the stunned Clinton camp, and the populist efforts of the fast moving Democrat, John Edwards, just off a 9% increase in the national polls. At this juncture, the Republican race is less compelling unless you happen to be John McCain or Mitt Romney.

Does Obama's highly favorable corporate media image stack up against reality? Is this the end of Hillary, or at least the beginning of the end? Can Edwards kick in the door with a strong showing and demand coverage? Will Ron Paul embarrass Giuliani by edging him out for fourth?

We'll never know for sure.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_michael__080108_all_diebold_all_the_.htm

[Melissa G]

2. National n/t

[Melissa G]

11. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments concerning a law which requires voters to present a

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments concerning a law which requires voters to present a government-issued photo ID. (ABC News) By DENNIS POWELL
Jan. 8, 2008
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a case that raises the question of whether requiring a voter to have a government-issued photo ID unfairly impacts poor and minority voters.

Many question whether the case, which will be decided before the end of the Court's term in June, will have an impact on the turnout of those voters for the 2008 presidential election.


The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a 2005 Indiana law that would require all voters to show ID before being able to vote. Judge Richard Posner, a prominent judge who sits on the bench in the Seventh Circuit, said it would be impossible for a person to exist in society today without an ID, saying, "Try flying or entering a tall building."

The National Committee on Election Reform said that 6 to 10 percent of eligible voters don't have valid IDs -- perhaps as many as 20 million Americans. Most of them are poor, getting by with no identification at all. They don't drive, they don't have bank accounts and they don't fly.

Only a few states have voter identification laws but the Indiana Democratic Party -- one of the petitioners -- said that Indiana's requirements are the most restrictive.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/SCOTUS/story?id=3648184&page=1

[Melissa G]

13. License and (Voter) Registration, Please

License and (Voter) Registration, Please

Washington Dispatch: On Wednesday the Supreme Court will hear what may be the most significant voting rights case since Bush v. Gore—and it could affect the outcome of the 2008 presidential election.

By Stephanie Mencimer

January 8, 2008


Ever since the 2000 presidential election, Republicans have been aggressively promoting the notion that Americans everywhere are impersonating their neighbors or dead people so they can sneak into polling booths and pull a few extra levers for Democrats. In 2006, according to the New York Times, Karl Rove told a group of GOP lawyers that election fraud was "an enormous and growing" problem, alleging that in some parts of the country "we have elections like those run in countries where the guys in charge are colonels in mirrored sunglasses."

Egged on by the White House, GOP legislators in many states responded by passing legislation they claimed would restore integrity to the system by forcing voters to show government-issued ID before casting a ballot. Partisan interests in these laws have been only thinly veiled, largely because voter-ID laws prevent a lot of people from voting, specifically poor, elderly, and minority voters who disproportionately vote Democratic. Last year, when Texas was considering such a law, the former political director of the Texas Republican Party told the Houston Chronicle that requiring photo ID could cause legitimate Democratic voting to drop off enough to boost GOP prospects by 3 percent.

Not surprisingly, the latest wave of voter ID laws have generated mountains of litigation, mostly initiated by the Democratic Party. The courts have struck down a couple of the most egregious laws. For instance, a Missouri court ruled in 2006 that a state law requiring photo ID to cast a ballot was an unconstitutional infringement on the right to vote akin to a poll tax because the paperwork required to get the ID was not free. But federal courts have also upheld several of these laws, including one in the state of Indiana considered the strictest in the country. That law will get the scrutiny of the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, in what promises to be a bitter partisan legal brawl of the sort the court has been avoiding since it put George W. Bush into office in 2000. It could well be the most significant voting rights case since Bush v. Gore and could have a direct impact on the outcome of the 2008 presidential election. If the court upholds the law, other states will be free to pass similarly strict laws that could potentially shut out millions of voters from exercising their constitutional right to vote.

Crawford v. Marion County Election Board centers on a 2005 Indiana law that requires voters to present a current, government-issued photo ID before casting a ballot. Voters without the ID can cast a provisional ballot but then must return within 10 days with the right documentation for it to be counted. At least 10 percent of Indiana voters don't have the requisite ID, nor do as many as 22 percent of registered African American voters. The cases before the Supreme Court have been brought by the state Democratic Party, civil rights groups, and state legislators who have argued that the law puts an untenable burden on the people they represent, many of whom would be shut out of polling places because they wouldn't be able to get the ID due to lack of birth certificates and other critical paperwork.

http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/01/voter-id-laws-fraud-supreme-court.html

[Melissa G]

14. Election Burden

Election Burden
Indiana's voter-ID law is harmful and worthless.
By Walter Dellinger and Sri Srinivasan
Posted Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008, at 12:17 PM ET
This Wednesday, in the midst of an intense political primary season, the Supreme Court will hear a case that will say a lot about the kind of democracy America aspires to be. At issue is an Indiana law requiring registered voters to present a government-issued photo ID when they seek to vote on Election Day. A law said to combat voting fraud by imposing the modest task of showing an ID may seem at first impression to be both sensible and fair. But this law is neither.

First and foremost, Indiana's law is a "solution" to a problem that doesn't exist. The voting fraud it purports to address is illusory. And the means it employs needlessly make it far more difficult for some citizens—especially those who are low-income, elderly, or lack easy access to transportation—to vote.

The basic legal standard for assessing a voting restriction of this sort is whether the need for the restriction is sufficiently weighty to justify the burden on legitimate voters. Photo-ID supporters argue that the requirement is necessary to prevent voter fraud, and that it imposes a negligible burden because legitimate voters invariably possess a government-issued photo ID. Both claims are wrong: A photo-ID requirement, in fact, is essentially of no benefit in preventing voter fraud, and it disenfranchises scores of legitimate voters.

There is no dispute that Indiana's photo-ID requirement addresses one, and only one, species of fraud—so-called "in-person impersonation fraud," which would occur if an ineligible voter were to come to the polls and attempt to cast a ballot by falsely claiming the identity of an eligible voter. In the entire history of Indiana, the total number of reported instances of this kind of fraud is zero. Nor is there reliable evidence that in-person impersonation fraud has occurred anywhere else in the country.

That is not surprising, as this kind of fraud would be an exceedingly irrational way to attempt to affect the outcome of an election. For starters, the impersonator would need to know that the actual registered voter would not herself be showing up to vote. If the real voter had already voted, the impersonator would be exposed at once. And in any event, why would any sane person risk going to prison to influence an election by one vote? It is all the more implausible to imagine an army of impersonators coordinating their efforts on a scale that could affect an election, let alone doing so without being detected. That is why the election fraud that's actually been tried involves ballot-box stuffing or bulk submitting of absentee ballots—schemes that allow a few people to roll up a lot of fraudulent votes. A photo-ID requirement does nothing to prevent those real shenanigans.

http://www.slate.com/id/2181573/

[Melissa G]

16. Supreme Court case: Should you be able to vote without a photo ID?

Supreme Court case: Should you be able to vote without a photo ID?
Arguments over Indiana's voter-identification law, the most stringent in the US, will be heard Wednesday.
By Warren Richey | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the January 9, 2008 edition


Page 1 of 2

In 2005, the Indiana state legislature passed a law requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification before being allowed to cast a ballot.

State officials promoted the measure as protection against voter fraud. Opponents denounced it as a thinly veiled attempt to suppress Democratic voter turnout in Indiana.

On Wednesday, the issue arrives at the US Supreme Court where the justices are being asked to decide whether requiring would-be voters to show photo ID violates the right to vote.

The case is being closely watched because it could establish new constitutional benchmarks in advance of the approaching 2008 general elections. If the high court upholds the Indiana law, the action would give a green light to the kinds of aggressive efforts to fight voter fraud favored by many Republicans. If instead the court invalidates the Indiana law, it would signal a heightened duty to keep it as easy as possible for all citizens to exercise their right to vote.

"This case is going to have serious ramifications not only for photo-ID laws but for what the right to vote means, and to what extent state and local governments have the ability to infringe that right," says Jon Greenbaum, director of the Voting Rights Project at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0109/p02s01-usju.html

[Melissa G]

3. Editorial n/t

[Melissa G]

4. New York Times Magazine on E-voting

New York Times Magazine on E-voting
By Dan Wallach, Rice University
January 06, 2008



This Sunday’s New York Times Magazine has an article by Clive Thompson on electronic voting machines. Freedom to Tinker’s Ed Felten is briefly quoted, as are a small handful of other experts. The article is a reasonable summary of where we are today, with paperless electronic voting systems on a downswing and optical scan paper ballots gaining in popularity. The article even conveys the importance of open source and the broader importance of transparency, i.e., convincing the loser that he or she legitimately lost the election.



A few points in the article are worth clarifying. For starters, Pennsylvania is cited as the “next Florida” — a swing state using paperless electronic voting systems whose electoral votes could well be decisive toward the 2008 presidential election. In other words, Pennsylvania has the perfect recipe to cause electoral chaos this November. Pennsylvania presently bans paper-trail attachments to voting systems. While it’s not necessarily too late to reverse this decision, Pennsylvania’s examiner for electronic voting systems, Michael Shamos, has often (and rightly) criticized these continuous paper-tape systems for their ability to compromise voters’ anonymity. Furthermore, the article cites evidence from Ohio where a claimed 20 percent of these things jammed, presumably without voters noticing and complaining. This is also consistent with a recent PhD thesis by Sarah Everett, where she used a homemade electronic voting system that would insert deliberate errors into the summary screen. About two thirds of her test subjects never noticed the errors and, amazingly enough, gave the system extremely high subjective marks. If voters don’t notice errors on a summary screen, then it’s reasonable to suppose that voters would be similarly unlikely to notice errors on a printout.




Rather than adding a bad paper-tape printer, the article explains that hand-marked optical tabulated ballots are presently seen as the best available voting technology. For technologies presently on the market and certified for use, this is definitely the case. A variety of assistive devices exist to help voters with low-vision, zero-vision, and other issues, although there’s plenty of room for improvement on that score.

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2706&Itemid=26

[Melissa G]

12. Remember Dewey Defeats Truman

Remember Dewey Defeats Truman
posted January 8, 2008

It ain't over till the fat lady sings - it ain't over until the people vote.

Polling shows that Barack Obama will win tonight's New Hampshire primary. If the polling in New Hampshire is correct, it will be the second "upset" victory in the long road to the White House. However, it ain't over until the fat lady sings and New Hampshire is only state number two out of 50.

What about the rest of us? Is it fair to declare winners and losers after two states vote, two states that make up a distinct minority of the voting population? Is it fair for the political pundits to declare that New Hampshire is a make or break situation for Hillary Clinton? Is it fair for the political pundits to declare Obama the victor?

If we declare the Democratic nominee after two or three states vote, the primary process is obviously broken - because such a declaration denies the rest of us the right to vote. After New Hampshire, and with 48 states to go, couldn't anything happen? Are we victims of polling, predictions, and guesswork? Are we being robbed of our right to vote?

People were outraged in 2000 when the votes in Florida were not counted. Many believed President Bush stole the election, that he robbed votes, that the vote in Florida was a fraud. In 2004, people screamed about voter fraud in Ohio. People believed that John Kerry was "robbed."

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_119696.asp

[rumpel]

21. Wired: How To Jam an Election in a Few Quick, Easy Steps

By Sarah Lai Stirland 01.07.08 | 8:30 PM

The word "change" quickly became a jaw-grindingly overused term on the presidential campaign trail in the last week, but Tuesday's debut of a colorful new book chronicling the ongoing chicanery in politics reminds us why so many Iowans were eager for it.

In his hilarious-yet-disgusting political memoir "How to Rig An Election," former GOP operative Allen Raymond and ghostwriter Ian Spiegelman lay bare his role in the Republicans' 2002 Election Day scheme to jam the get-out-the-vote phone lines run by the New Hampshire Democrats and some local firefighters.

The book arrives the same day New Hampshire voters once again go to the polls to choose presidential nominees, a time when robocalls, e-mails, online videos and other artifacts of political sophistry fly around the ether. Raymond's tale from the inside is worth reading just to gain a sense of perspective on all this highly politicized and often misleading targeted messaging.

Raymond's criminal political shenanigans came in 2002 as Republican John Sununu (New Hampshire) was battling former Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen for a seat in the U.S. Senate, a race Sununu wound up winning.

http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2008/01/rigging_elections

[Melissa G]

5. International n/t

[Melissa G]

6. German activists move to block e-voting

German activists move to block e-voting
Out of the Chaos Computer Club, calls for dropping the computers
Jeremy Kirk

January 08, 2008 (IDG News Service) -- A German computer club has asked a court to grant an injunction that would stop the use of electronic voting machines in state elections scheduled for later this month.

The Chaos Computer Club (CCC), founded in 1981, contends the government doesn't have the technical knowledge to ensure that the e-voting machines' software or hardware hasn't been manipulated, according to Frank Rieger, spokesman. The club supports the use of paper ballots.

Eight cities and districts in the German state of Hesse are planning to use e-voting machines made by Nederlandsche Apparatenfabriek (Nedap) and software developer Groenendaal in the election on Jan. 27.


In response to complaints against use of the machines, the Ministry of the Interior for the state of Hesse mandated that the cities and districts using the machines conduct tests prior to the election, Rieger said.
But CCC argues that a sophisticated hacker would be able to defeat a test, providing a reliable result at that time but still manipulate the real election results, Rieger said.

http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=privacy&articleId=9056138&taxonomyId=84

[Melissa G]

7. Armenia: Planned Presidential Election Exit Poll Creates Controversy

Great DU thread by Wilms here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=488796&mesg_id=488796


Armenia: Planned Presidential Election Exit Poll Creates Controversy
Emil Danielyan 1/07/08

The United States has offered to organize and finance a first-ever exit poll in Armenia as part of an effort to promote a free-and-fair presidential election on February 19. The initiative has been endorsed by the election favorite, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, while causing serious misgivings among his main challengers.

The main source of opposition candidates’ concern is the apparent willingness of US officials to rely on an Armenian polling organization with reputed close ties to the Armenian government. Its pre-election opinion polls have long been criticized as misleading by Armenian opposition and civic groups.

snip

Preparations for the presidential ballot were high on the agenda of a December 4 meeting between Sarkisian and Joseph Pennington, the US charge d’affaires in Yerevan. A government statement quoted the Armenian premier as welcoming the proposed exit poll. "We were very pleased at the prime minister’s very positive response, and we hope to be able to do this," Pennington told reporters on December 17. He said the exit poll would "enhance the credibility" of official vote results.

The remarks came amid a growing debate over the credibility of an ongoing series of opinion polls financed by the US Agency for International Development and commissioned by the Washington-based International Republican Institute (IRI). Although the polls are nominally conducted by a Lithuanian affiliate of the Gallup Organization, it is the controversial Armenian Sociological Association (ASA) that has done the crucial fieldwork of interviewing citizens and submitting the resulting data to the US pollster.

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav010708.shtml

[Melissa G]

9. German hackers fight electronic voting

German hackers fight electronic voting
It'll end in tears, warns Chaos
By John Leyden



Published Tuesday 8th January 2008 14:10 GMT
Veteran German hacking group the Chaos Computer Club is fighting the use of electronic voting machines in upcoming local elections.

A lawsuit filed by the group against the German state of Hesse seeks a temporary injunction against the use of electronic voting machines that would prevent their use in 27 January local elections. The legal action contends that NEDAP voting computers due to be used in the count in eight districts are insecure and "susceptible to manipulation".

"Recourse to the court has become necessary since the Hesse state government evidently does not have the required expert knowledge to understand the technical security and transparency flaws of the voting machines, nor the will to act accordingly," the Chaos Computer Club explains.

Additional security measures added by the Hesse Ministry of the Interior to address concerns about the integrity of votes tallied using NEDAP voting computers are insufficient, the hackers argue. 45,000 people have signed its petition to reject e-voting machines.

Chaos Computer Club's legal offensive follows a successful attempt by Dutch hackers in banning the same type of NEDAP voting machines in the Netherlands. A Dutch judge last year ruled the use of 9,000 Nedap e-voting machines in recent Dutch elections unlawful because of a lack of adequate authorisation. Results compiled using the machine were, however, allowed to stand. The decision was hailed as a victory for the Dutch "we don't trust voting computers" foundation. ®
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/08/german_hackers_oppose_e_voting/

[Melissa G]

15. Lessons from Ukraine’s election impasse

Lessons from Ukraine’s election impasse
Written by Jenny Luesby

Mr. Raila OdingaJanuary 09, 2008: History has rehearsed Raila Odinga’s strategy before; and in Take One, Orange won. But in Kenya, circumstances may not be so favourable for the declared loser as they were in Ukraine’s Orange Revolution three-years-ago.

In December 2004, an orange presidential candidate representing the disenfranchised went to the polls against the chosen successor of an entrenched and corrupt elite bearing blue banners.

The Orange candidate led the opinion polls, and his win seemed assured. But Ukrainians awoke the day after the election to a Blue win, based on extraordinary turn-outs.

They poured out onto the streets, and protested for two-and-a-half weeks: but they did so peacefully. Young women held night vigils outside the presidential administration buildings holding orange flowers. Drummers set up outside the Council of Ministers, and drummed for days. Protesters gathered in their thousands, in freezing temperatures, and chanted.

The international media homed-in. International mediators arrived. And the West took the battle to its heart, as a test case for democracy in the sea of nations riddled with autocracy that had once been part of the Soviet Union.

http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5174&Itemid=5821

[Melissa G]

20. I'm Barack Obama's cousin says Raila Odinga

I'm Barack Obama's cousin says Raila Odinga
By Mike Pflanz in Nairobi
Last Updated: 7:36pm GMT 08/01/2008



Kenya's defeated presidential challenger Raila Odinga has claimed to be a cousin of Barack Obama and said that they had discussed his country's post-election violence.

Kibaki offers talks with Kenyan rival Odinga
Obama senses victory as voting begins
Mr Odinga, 63, said that the US senator's father, from western Kenya's Luo tribe, was his maternal uncle.


Mr Odinga (right) says that Senator Obama's late father was his uncle on his mother's side
"He has called me to talk about the destabilising constitutional crisis in this country, despite being in the middle of the very busy New Hampshire primary," Mr Odinga said yesterday.

Mr Obama's spokesman Robert Gibbs confirmed that the senator spoke to the Kenyan opposition leader on Monday afternoon for about five minutes before going into a rally in New Hampshire, according to Associated Press.

The Democrat would-be presidential candidate is also understood to have tried to speak to President Mwai Kibaki, whose victory in December 27 elections has been widely questioned.

Mr Obama has not commented on the Kenyan opposition leader's claim to be a relative.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/08/wkenya308.xml

[tbyg52]

22. K&R - may I have (at least) one more "R" for the news, please?

Thanks Melissa! :hi:

[Melissa G]

23. Thanks, tbyg52 !

Tuesday is the day I often have to go to city council so I appreciate the help! :hi:

[Wilms]

24. Kick n/t