Police Called To NY-23 Polling Sites

[Are_grits_groceries]

It's getting ugly out there.

I just got off the phone with former state Democratic Chairwoman June O'Neill, who informed me the police had been called to at least two polling sites in St. Lawrence County due to overzealous electioneering (O'Neill called it "voter intimidation") by Doug Hoffman supporters.

"We've gotten reports that people are standing there, covered with Hoffman stickers and yelling anti-choice stuff at voters," said O'Neill, a St. Lawrence native who has been running the party's GOTV effort for Bill Owens in NY-23.

"Apparently, there's some woman claiming to be a commissioner," O'Neill continued. "Commissioner of what, I don't know. She's from Texas, I think, and she won't leave."

"This is not the way we roll in the North Country."

O'Neill also said she had received anecdotal reports of problems at polling sites in Gouverneur, which is Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava's hometown. But she couldn't immediately confirm this.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2009/11/police-called-to-ny-23-polling.html#ixzz0Vp2VXvPI

Get used to this. However, hopefully they will turn off even more people. The downside is that they can scare people away who don't want that kind of ugly hassle.

[Fuzz]

1. Diligent little brown-shirts aren't they?

[monmouth]

2. Exactly! They are overplaying the hand...n/t

[DearAbby]

3. Disgusting behavior

watch they will be the first to yell "Fraud"

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

4. Sounds like more outsiders

"This is not the way we roll in the North Country."

Remember the guys who came down from D.C. to interrupt the vote counting in Florida? Typical right wing thuggery.

[lpbk2713]

5. They may have changed their name but that's all they have changed.

It's still the same old reTHUGlican party.

[Warpy]

6. That's actually a good thing

because nothing pisses a fence sitter off more than being strongarmed.

I'm delighted the fascists think it works with a secret ballot.

[BonnieJW]

11. I know!

This kind of news would propel me to the polls! I love a good put down and I'd love to say some choice words to those bozo's.

[Gman]

7. Good. Make the independents change their mind as they approach the polling place

or even better stay away. This is one election where I really kinda want the conservative to win. It'll tear an even bigger hole in the GOP. Glen Beck will be the new head of the GOP instead of Rush. Beck makes Rush look sane.

[Ganja Ninja]

8. Yup a win by the wacky right might be a plus in this case

The Bachmann/Palin over-zealots in congress the more insane the GOP will look in 2010.

[damntexdem]

9. This approach just doesn't work anymore: the crazier the thug elected, the more normal idiocy seems

There are already bat-shit crazy Rethug Congresspeople, and they often end up on TV.

[pscot]

10. So classy, those freepers

n/t

[sonias]

12. Oh that will work wonders

Can you imagine being a "moderate" republican and having the crazies yell anti-choice stuff at you. Keep it up freepers - keep it up!

Fight for the soul of the R party - I hope that it is a fight to the death - where the R party dies. :evilgrin:


Sonia

[Jennicut]

13. Wow, the crazies are converging on the little district in NY.

There needs to be a law that no outsiders are allowed near polling areas on election days. I would tell them to get the f*ck out of my town already.

[hedgehog]

18. There already is a law barring campaigning within 100 yards of the elction station!

That's why the police were called.

[Jennicut]

19. Yes, that is true. Well, I am glad the police came.

[sabrina 1]

14. They held a rally yesterday. All Hoffman

seemed capable of doing was name-calling, nothing on the issues except 'I'll stop Pelosi' etc. Calling Scozzafava 'Dede Schitzophrenia' is about what you'd expect from this freeper type nobody.

I agree the problem is they make the already insane Republicans look sane. His rally had more people than Joe Biden's with entertainment also.

Not sure how I want this to turn out, but I think even Republicans don't want this guy representing them. Still, since yesterday he appears to be ahead in the polls and I wouldn't be surprised if there was cheating involved.

Saw a few comments from some of the locals there saying they did not like this kind of nastiness as it was never that way in their elections. That might have an effect, who knows.

But for Dems it's a no-lose situation anyhow. They never held that seat and a win for the rabid fringes of society should wake up the Republican Party and make them decide if their strategy of using the likes of Glenn Beck was a good idea after all.

Btw, Hoffman's wife is a radio talk show host.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

17. Good Lord - first Limbaugh says she's into bestiality and now Hoffman calls her schizophrenic

They're running out of outrageous things to say.

[gratuitous]

15. We'll see

If the tactics work like they did in December 2000 in Florida, this will be just the beginning. If these thug tactics don't work, this will bring yowls of "voter fraud" from the wingnuts. So, naturally, this will be good news for Republicans regardless of the way it turns out.

Something to keep in mind, if you'd like a more objective measure of how to judge the outcome of this vote, is that this district has been a Republican stronghold for decades. When the state of New York went for Obama in 2008 by 22 points, this district went for Obama by 5 points. The spinmeisters will use that statistic to paint a Hoffman victory (should it happen) as a stunning upset or something, and totally indicative of a sea change in voter preferences. Neither talking point will be true.

[sabrina 1]

20. You're absolutely right about them spinning a Hoffman victory

They are already doing it, saying if he wins, it will be 'shades of 2004'.

A Dem hasn't held that seat since the 1800s so it's no loss if the Dem doesn't get it. Besides, the Dem is not great as far as the kind of Dem we need in Congress. It's sort of a microcosm of what could happen if the base of the party doesn't vote for Blue Dogs in 2010 as the usually hold their noses to do.

If Hoffman wins, it ought to motivate real Republicans to make sure this doesn't happen elsewhere, and it's unlikely in more moderate districts. But it will embolden them and further split the party. They will start running their own candidates. That might be an opening for Dems to run more Progressive candidates in areas where the Tea-baggers and Republicans are split.

Not sure what I'd do if I lived there today ~ I saw some locals saying they were staying hom. Repubs I think, as they could not vote for the Dem, but were disgusted about how those outsiders bashed Scozzafava.

I kind of want them to win, but Dems need to make it really clear that in no way is this a victory over anyone but the Republican Party.

I noticed too, they hate when that is mentioned. Saw one of them on TV last night and he all but had a fit when the other talking head said 'Dems have nothing to lose here, but what this shows is a huge split in the Republican Party and that's good for Dems'.

That was not well received by the tea-bagger so I hope it is repeated often should they win.


CNN will be covering the races including this one, for two hours tonight.

[gratuitous]

21. As we all know, nothing is ever good for the Democrats

That's against every tenet of public punditry! No wonder they'd have a fit over that.

I've been checking around, and it appears that an interesting race has shaped up in CA-10, which may be a Democratic pick up. For some reason, this race hasn't attracted very much attention. Certainly nothing like NY-23. Well, it doesn't fit into the chosen narrative, so that's probably the explanation. CA-10 going Democratic cannot possibly be good news for Democrats. We'll have to wait for the explanation, if it's even fit to notice.

[hedgehog]

16. If word of this gets out, it's apt to blow up in their faces. I told my

husband there were people politicking at some of the polling stations, and his immediate reaction was "That's just not done." Every polling station has signs posted marking a 100 yard limit past which no signs can be posted. You can always spot the limit because there is a line of signs there.

BTW - We New Yorkers don't scare.