Please, sign this petition to Obama:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/million_messages_to_obama/
Dear Friends:
To those of you who so kindly congratulated me for Tuesday’s election outcome, as if Barack Obama’s victory resulted from my personal and deeply committed efforts. I thank you for your generous comments.
To those who may have wondered how I fared in “radio silence” for six weeks on the Ohio battleground. Be assured that I survived.
To those who do not know me or are unfamiliar with my previous descriptions of the realities and ironies of the 2008 election. What follows is the final chapter of my life as a political activist, a missionary for democracy, an apostle of Change. Hopefully you will also understand how it is that for the first three nights after I returned home I woke up from the same dream in which I wander nameless streets in search of faceless voters.
The Buckeye State
On September 23 I joined the Ohio Campaign for Change as a member of its newly created Vote Corps. The invitation had warned of 14-hour days, seven days a week, right up through Election Day. I accepted because the Obama campaign considered this important enough to make it a paid position and because it was in the one state McCain had to win to become President.
I left home certain that my life experiences -- in retail sales, as diplomat and political officer, and Obama volunteer in seven states – would be useful in the Buckeye State. Stopping at Starbucks on the way out of Burlington that Sunday morning, I noticed the first trace of red on the outer edge of a leaf on a small maple tree in the parking lot. I realized that by the time I returned to Vermont the leaf peepers would have come and gone. Fortunately, it turned out to be a mild autumn in Ohio that showcased the Buckeye State’s own colorful foliage.
The Akron Vote Corps
A hundred of us reported to Columbus for Vote Corps training and by the first night we were already deployed across the state. I was assigned to the city of Akron, birthplace of Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James and Pretenders’ singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde, who wrote about her birthplace in “My City Was Gone”. The Akron Campaign for Change Office was headed by Regional Field Director Max Lesko. In charge of Summit and Portage Counties, he proved himself a very capable and genial manager. My hosts, Cathy and David, and their daughter Nicky, lived in a northwest suburb. Their friendship and cozy accommodations would be my home for the next six weeks.
At first the Akron Vote Corps consisted of six whites, from metropolitan DC, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Texas and California. Like most of the Obama staff and volunteers I met during the primaries, they were young and well-educated. In fact, I was two-and-a-half times their average age. By the end of the second week we lost one and gained five new members. Our new team-mates were all African Americans, from California, Texas and Georgia. Their average age was early forties and many had worked on the Kerry campaign. One of my first initiatives was to buy half a dozen fingerless gloves for our new friends from the warm weather states. Our Vote Corps was rounded out by a “Lead,” a young lawyer from Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown’s Washington staff.
The Vote Corps’ mission was to register voters, identify supporters and get out the vote for Barack Obama. Our primary targets were “Sporadics,” first time voters and people who voted Democratic in the past, but did not always turn out. For a while we were also instructed to knock on every single door in a targeted neighborhood. I successfully resisted attempts to create competition within our group for most doors knocked, “Doors” being the campaign’s primary measure for the work accomplished by staff and volunteers. My feeling was that competition focused on this imperfect metric would distort our effort, demoralize some members of our group, and sacrifice quality for quantity. For in the end, the real measure of our success would be the vote count on Election Day. And to that end, it was our diligence after the “knock” that would help determione the outcome.
Registration
Our first task was registering new voters and re-registering people who had moved before the deadline of October 6. We knocked on doors and scoured bus stops and other public places to register as many people as possible. Most people were already registered, as they clearly understood the importance of this election. Those who had not yet done so enthusiastically signed up, particularly in the African-American community. My first Saturday in Akron, I missed my first grandchild’s first birthday party back in Virginia. But my reward on that day was registering many first-time voters, including former felons who had recently regained the rights of other free men and women.
Many of our Sporadics were transients who frequently moved from one run-down Akron neighborhood to another. This city was in decline for a long time, and the recent economic downturn just aggravated conditions. In older residential neighborhoods there are a growing number of abandoned homes or houses soon to be vacated due to lost jobs or foreclosure. Many porches are marked by hand-painted signs announcing “Copper Already Stolen” or littered with trash by people who have given up. It is in this environment that we spread our message of Hope and Change.
Starting on September 30, we entered “golden week” when voters could both register and vote early. Ohio’s new rules allowed “no fault” early voting by absentee ballot or in person. A single polling place was created for Summit County at the Job Center in northeast Akron. The Job Center is well-known, because job losses have been ongoing for many years. The building, also known by locals as “the old library,” is next to another landmark, the County’s Auto Title Office. For those without cars, bus number 12 took people there from downtown in 15 minutes.
Early Voting
Registration and early voting at the Job Center was very convenient. Open every day, including Saturday and Sunday, there were 50 polling booths and seating for voters waiting for their paper ballots. But many Ohioans, especially African Americans disenfranchised in previous elections were suspicious. They worried that ballots were going to “disappear,” as reportedly happened in 2004 in Cuyahoga County. Overcoming these legitimate concerns required some persuasion. Our most important argument was: “Barack Obama wants his supporters to vote early.” That usually did it. We helped to spread the word that this process would protect, not suppress voting rights. And by November 3, the daily early vote turnout had grown from hundreds to thousands, the wait from 15 minutes to three hours.
By my third week I had developed a routine for creating a multiplier effect in conversation with early voters. Once they had made an Early Vote Commit, I introduced community organizing techniques to build on the widespread desire to help Obama get elected. Within the family, a grandparent or parent, or maybe the principal driver would agree to take responsibility for getting the entire household to vote early. I also encouraged voters to take along a relative or friend, or a neighbor who needed a ride.
Finally, I would make the following pitch:
“I’m working for Obama and I want you to work for him too. So I’m going to deputize you. No badge, no pay, just the satisfaction of knowing you helped to elect Barack Obama."
That always earned a smile. Then I continued:
"Now I'm sure you know someone who wouldn’t vote unless you drag their lazy a-- to the Job Center to vote. Do you know anyone like that?”
I could tell when they were hooked. Eyes turned skyward. Faces revealed minds thinking of who they would get to early vote. A knowing smile indicated they knew exactly who they would take along. In closing I urged them to let everyone know how easy it was to vote at the Job Center and that Obama wanted them to do so. By the time I left their door, the early voter had been empowered and had taken ownership of the Obama campaign. Now it was their campaign too.
Get Out The Vote
During our last week in Ohio, the Vote Corps was dissolved. We were detailed to assist Field Organizers with their neighborhood teams of volunteers, which were part of the Ohio get out the vote (GOTV) strategy at the precinct level.
I was assigned to Barberton to work for Sol, an energetic field organizer from Texas. My main “turf” was the south Akron neighborhood of Kenmore. Unlike my earlier work with Sporadics in largely African American neighborhoods, I was instructed to “persuade” and “motivate” the remaining “Undecided” voters. But with Election Day closing in fast, there would only be minutes to talk to any single voter.
In Barberton and Kenmore, the Undecideds were predominantly white, working class Democrats. Most did not want to vote for McCain, but were not yet sure about Barack Obama. I understood their concern. Not only was Obama a relatively new and unknown political personality. Most of these voters had supported Hillary in the March primary. And like voters elsewhere, they were being bombarded with smear emails, Republican mailings about Ayers and NRA propaganda warning Obama would take away their guns.
With openly racist voters there was the curt “Thanks for your time.” But it was not difficult to pull the other undecided voters off the fence, especially with the credibility of being an older white man with a knowledge of history and 23 years of federal service under five US Presidents. These voters knew that Obama and Hillary shared a common policy agenda and that she was campaigning hard for the Democratic ticket. They also recognized Rove tactics and our argument that: “They can’t win with the truth, so they are attacking him with lies.” Second amendment concerns were easily neutralized with Biden’s quote: “No one’s taking away my Beretta.” But the simplest most effective argument was “Are you happy with the way things are going or do you want change?” And Change is what voters wanted more than anything this year.
Election Day
November 3rd and 4th were taken up with the final GOTV effort, primarily distributing door hangers and reminding voters of their polling places. From 3:30 pm on Election Day until it was too dark to read house numbers, I scoured for remaining undecided voters who had yet to cast their ballots. I actually found several and they agreed to go to their local poll station, which by then was no longer crowded.
I was at the Barberton volunteers’ party at Lake Anna Hall when MSNBC announced Ohio for Obama. Having already won Pennsylvania, I knew it was all over except for reaching 270 electoral votes. While happy, I was so physically and mentally exhausted that the victory did not seem real. I headed back to my host family home and watched the candidates’ speeches before turning in and resting for the long drive home. Now as my dreams of knocking on doors in Ohio recede, the enormity of our achievement and the challenges facing Barack Obama are coming into better focus. I have no idea what my next step will be, but I will continue to do what I can to get our country back on the right track.
Epilogue
After 40 days of walking the streets of Summit County, I had knocked on or distributed campaign literature at over 4000 doors.
More importantly, I had in-person conversations with more than 1500 voters and obtained about 1000 Early Vote Commits, which probably understates the number of people who were convinced to go to the Job Center. Along the way I also helped remove several hundred bad addresses from our “Turf,” easing the task of later attempts by volunteers to find our voters.
The Akron Vote Corps’ effort over five weeks contributed greatly to the early vote turnout, which by Election Day totaled 90,000, or fully one-third of the 272,000 ballots cast in Summit County. And while he won Ohio’s 20 electoral votes with 51% of the state’s popular vote, Barack Obama won Summit County with 57.45%.
If you would like to be notified whenever Mark Wiznitzer posts a new article join Food Tasters For Obama.
Al Gore made an intriguing comment about the presidential election at the recent Web 2.0 Summit: "One of the reasons we were all thrilled Tuesday night is it was pretty obvious this was a collectively intelligent decision."
See my reply in the "Obama, collective intelligence, and Current TV" entry of the Blog of Collective Intelligence.
Dear Friends,
From the German Newspaper Tagesblatt fur den Kreis Steinfurt of Saturday, 8, 2008:
When Germans were asked if they like the election of Barack Obama as President of the USA 98,2 % answered YES and only 1,8 % answered NO. The reporter says this response was overwhelmingly for Obama. The YES for Obama is found under German citizens of all ages, from young to old. 84,3 % believe that the relationship between USA and Germany will improve because of Obama and 15,7 % were sceptical about that.
Barack Obama talked to Germans prime minister Mrs. Angela Merkel and they agreed to work closely together on issues as stopping wars, stabilization of the situation in Afganistan, Klimat Control and the handling of the Iranian nuclear programm.
Greetings from Metelen, Germany,
Henk van Aalderen
A first hand account in the words of a young voter, Sarah Jamieson, in South Carolina:
Being a long-time resident and registered voter in South Carolina, I'm not suprised to hear that McCain won in our state.
I just returned home from 2 hours in line at the polls. I must say that my experience there left me very nervous. The long lines were the least of my worries after arriving. A half hour had passed before I could get an election official to direct me to the correct line to be in. I expected to show up, get in line, vote, and be on my way.
However, there were 4 lines to wait in: the first line was where you had to 'sign in,' the second, where you waited to receive a white square of paper that said something to the effect of 'verified registered voter,' and then the 3rd & 4th line, depending on your precinct where you then waited to vote. Finally, I got to the front of the 'sign in' line where I gave the election official my identification.
He quickly scrolled down a printed list of names to the letter 'J' and said that I wasn't on 'the list.' He handed my identification off to another election official who moved to a chair in the corner and was attempting to call someone I assume who could verify my voter registration. He made 3 frustrated attempts to make this phone call and returned 15 minutes later with a paper ballot. He had filled out section at the top that read, "voter not on the list, tried to call the local election headquarters but there was no answer." He instructed me on how to fill out the ballot properly and stuck me in a corner at a desk.
The majority of the state & local voting categories had one candidate running uncontested whose party affiliation was republican. Of course, there was an alloted space for a write-in candidate. I left those categories blank. The confusion, disorganization, and as disshelved if not more of a mess than this one. I'm optimistically hoping that this will not contribute to the election results but fear that such is unavoidable. I stuck my paper ballot into a plastic black box and left. My skepticism makes me worry that my paper ballot vote will not make it to the right place.
http://www.neurope.eu/articles/90419.php
....reports CNN, of the enormous numbers showing up for early voting. Many states report that their turn out last week had already exceeded voter turn out for 2004.
Voters in all early voting states are reporting excessively long waits, with 4, 5, even 6 hours or more not uncommon.
Not all states keep track of party affiliation, but of those that do, 58% of early voters are Democrats and 42% are Republicans.
AND
CNN's international news edition reports the world is dumbstruck that the most powerful nation on earth is incapable of conducting an election which permits citizens to easily vote.
Using the Federal Emergency Ballot (FWAB)
Still Waiting for Your Ballot?
In 1976, Democrats Abroad member David Froelich waited. His ballot finally turned up after Election Day. Frustrated over being disenfranchised by mail delays, he secured his congressman's support so that when the same thing happened again in 1980, his write-in ballot was validated in court. But Dave did not stop there. He worked with several congressmen on bipartisan legislation ensuring that the right to a write-in ballot would be extended to all registered U.S. voters living abroad, without a court battle.
Dave's hard work finally paid off in 1986, when Ronald Reagan signed legislation making the Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB) available to all overseas voters who have properly applied for their ballots.
This write-in ballot, or FWAB, is your ticket to voting despite delays over which you have no control.
Wondering where your ballot is? Think about how good or bad the mails are where you live. If you have any doubt about whether your state-issued ballot would reach your local voting official back in the U.S. if you wait another day, wait no longer. Thank Dave Froelich (former chair of DA-Israel and activist extraordinaire) and use the FWAB!
Using the Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot
The FWAB is a back-up ballot that you can vote TODAY. If you subsequently receive your state ballot, vote that, too. The FWAB is only counted if your state ballot is not received by your state by the ballot return deadline. Click here for deadlines.
1. Get the FWAB: Go to www.VoteFromAbroad.org. Simply answer the six screens of questions and download and print the nine page document. You will receive (1) Instructions (where you will find the address to send the FWAB), (2) Electronic Transmission Sheet and Federal Postcard Application (which you do NOT need); (3) The Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot, which includes a Voter's Declaration/Affirmation, the Ballot and Instructions.
2. Sign and Date the Voter's Declaration/Affirmation: When you usewww.VoteFromAbroad.org, the Voter's Declaration/Affirmation will be filled in based upon your voting state's requirements and the information you provided. You just need to review the information, sign and date it. Check the following list to see if you need a witness or additional documentation.
· Alabama: 2 witnesses OR Notary (must be over the age of 18)
· Alaska: 1 witness (dated and signed)
· Arizona: Proof of Citizenship (copy of passport or birth certificate)
· Louisiana: 2 witnesses (sign on voter's declaration form)
· Minnesota: Self Certification by putting passport number or last 4 digits of SSN on ballot return envelope
· North Carolina: 2 witnesses (must be over 18 sign and include address)
· South Carolina: 1 witness (sign on the voter's declaration form)
· Virginia: 1 witness (sign on the voter's declaration form)
· Wisconsin: 1 witness (both voter and witness must sign security envelope; witness must be a U.S. Citizen, over 18)
3. Vote the FWAB: You can either write in the candidate's name or the word Democrat. (It is unlikely that you will need the second page of the ballot). To find out who the Democratic candidates are for House and Senate, please click here. To find your Congressional District, click here, enter your voting zip code, and then click on "current election."
4. Seal the Ballot Envelope: Put your voted FWAB ONLY in a plain white envelope and seal it. Write on the outside of the envelope "Security Envelope."
5. In the Mailing Envelope: Put the sealed "Security Envelope" and the Signed and Dated Voter's Declaration/Affirmation in a mailing envelope.
6. Enter Return Address: Write your name and current mailing address in the upper left hand corner of the mailing envelope.
7. Address the Envelope: Write the address of your Local Election Office on the mailing envelope. The address of your Local Election Office is provided on your customized information sheet.
8. Double Check: Double check that you have completed everything.
9. Ensure evidence of mailing from outside the US:
· Foreign Postmark: Affix the appropriate postage. All states will accept a foreign postmark as evidence of submission from outside the U.S.
· Consular Stamp: All states have been informed by the U.S. State Department that they should accept a consular stamp as evidence of submission from outside the U.S. Using the consular service results in your mailing envelope being placed in the US postal system. Affix a $0.42 U.S. Postage Stamp.
· Commercial Courier: Some states will also accept a commercial courier service waybill as evidence of submission from outside the U.S. Using a courier service should be a last resort.Alabama explicitly refuses to accept materials sent to them by commercial couriers, such as Federal Express and DHL. If using a courier, please staple a copy of the air waybill to the ballot envelope prior to sealing the courier envelope.
10. Seal the addressed envelope - and Mail your FWAB Today!
More questions? Contact our experts at votercentral@democratsabroad.org.
What are you waiting for? Do the FWAB today!
Mailing Ballots and FWABs
Foreign Postmark: All states will accept a foreign postmark as evidence of submission from outside the U.S.
Consular Stamp: All states have been informed by the U.S. State Department that they should accept a consular stamp as evidence of submission from outside the U.S. Find your nearest US consulate or embassy.
Commercial Courier: Some states will also accept a commercial courier service waybill as evidence of submission from outside the U.S. Using a courier service should be a last resort. Alabama explicitly refuses to accept materials sent to them by commercial couriers, such as Federal Express and DHL. Consider Federal Express' reduced fee courier service for ballots at Express Your Vote.
Don't forget the postage!! Note that even if the envelope says "postage paid," this is NOT the case when you are mailing outside of the US. Make sure you add sufficient postage! Take your ballot to the post office. They can give you proof of posting for free, weigh the ballot to assure correct postage, and stamp it with a post mark, which is required in some states. Always get proof of posting!
Video the Vote went to Jackson County, West Virginia, in response to numerous reports of machine vote flipping. The local county clerk showed us the machines in question, but the demonstration left us with questions, as the machine appeared to malfunction even after it was calibrated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q9NSVUu8nk
North Carolina has been voting Republican for three decades, but now the Democrat Obama stands a chance.
Every day Thierry is out and about encouraging people to go out and vote: "We've registered 600,000 new voters in this state alone. If they all turn up on Election Day there will be a problem, because there will be such long queues that people will decide to go home again and won't vote".North Carolina is one of the states where voters can cast their ballot ahead of the election.The Obama campaign is trying to encourage this and it seems to be working. In Charlotte, the waiting time is now two hours and more.For Fleming Thierry Wernaers the campaign has been going on for two years now. He hopes it will soon be over and that Obama will win: "My wife has already said we may have to return back to Belgium, if Obama loses, but we think he will win."
Video interview here: http://www.deredactie.be/cm/de.redactie.english/news/081024_obama
http://www.deredactie.be/cm/de.redactie.english/flanders_today/1.401016Su
n 26/10/08 11:06 - In the lead up to presidential elections in the United States on November 4, Flandersnews is surveying several Americans living in Belgium. We are polling them on how they voted and why: every day a new profile of an American living in Belgium.
The United States and Belgium have traditionally been good friends and allies. U.S companies find Belgium interesting for its advantageous location, highly-skilled and educated workforce and for its access to the rest of Europe. With Brussels as the de facto capital of the European Union, it is a ‘place to be’ for Americans of all kinds and in many fields. The resident American community in Belgium now exceeds 20,000.With elections coming up in the United States, groups of Americans in Belgium have been campaigning for the candidate of their choice. Many of the Americans here have dutifully sent in their overseas ballot. The overseas voters form an important group politically. They can have a crucial impact on the outcome of the elections.
Get the FWAB: Go to www.VoteFromAbroad.org. Simply answer the six screens of questions and download and print the nine page document. You will receive (1) Instructions (where you will find the address to send the FWAB), (2) Electronic Transmission Sheet and Federal Postcard Application which you do NOT need; (3) The Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot which includes a Voter's Declaration/Affirmation, the Ballot and Instructions. Sign and Date the Voter's Declaration/Affirmation: When you use VoteFromAbroad.org, the Voter's Declaration/Affirmation will be filled in based upon your voting state's requirements and the information you provided. You just need to review the information, sign and date it. Check the following list to see if you need a witness or additional documentation.
Vote the FWAB: You can either write in the candidate's name or the word Democrat. (It is unlikely that you will need the second page of the ballot).
To find out who the Democratic candidates are for House and Senate, please click here. To find your Congressional District, click here, enter your voting zip code and then click on "current election." Seal the Ballot Envelope: Put your voted FWAB ONLY in a plain white envelope and seal it. Write on the outside of the envelope "Security Envelope." In the Mailing Envelope: Put the sealed "Security Envelope" and the Signed and Dated Voter's Declaration/Affirmation in a mailing envelope.
Enter Return Address: Write your name and current mailing address in the upper left hand corner of the mailing envelope. Address the Envelope: Write the address of your Local Election Office on the mailing envelope. The address of your Local Election Office is provided on your customized information sheet. Double Check: Double check that you have completed everything. Ensure evidence of mailing from outside the US:
Seal the addressed envelope – and Mail your FWAB Today! For Questions: help@votefromabroad.org
Photo Montage - World of Friends: Bridges for Obama
Thanks for our friends in Japan for putting this together, and to Laurie for finding.
The Brussels photo at Ascenseur des Marolles is included! And so is the photo in Tervuren! It's at about 2:50.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG_L5ihuiQ4
Also available here at a higher resolution: http://blip.tv/file/1338283
Your vote is critical. Register now at www.VoteFromAbroad.org !!
Twenty-five states, including nine swing states – Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, – have registration deadlines in the next two weeks.
Voters in the following states (who have not yet registered and/or requested their ballots) must ensure that their FPCAs are sent in NOW!
Oct. 4 – Illinois, Nevada, South Carolina
Oct. 5 – Alaska, Mississippi
Oct. 6 – Colorado, DC, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wyoming
Oct. 8 – Missouri
Oct. 10 – Idaho, New York
All of these states except for NY and WY will accept faxed FPCAs. Please use the following US fax number: +1-703-693-5527 (the toll free numbers in many parts of the world do not work). All faxes are received in Virginia by the Federal Voting Assistance Program. The FVAP will log in the date and time that the fax was received and then forward it on to your local election official. For deadline purposes, your form is deemed received when it arrives on the FVAP's fax machine, but you still must MAIL the original form to your local election official.
Exceptions: NY and WY do NOT accept faxes. The only way to meet the deadlines for NY and WY is to ensure that your original FPCA arrives in the local election office by mail no later than the deadline. (NY and WY will also accept FPCAs by commercial courier.) NOTE: FPCAs need NOT carry a foreign postmark!
Later Deadlines: The other states have later registration deadlines. Check them here: http://democratsabroad.org/registration_dates and watch for our forthcoming Voter Alerts. You can expect these every few days through October.
To check the status of your registration, check http://democratsabroad.org/registration_links. If your state is not listed, contact your local election official. You can find this information at www.Votesmart.org/voter_county_election_offices.php
Questions? Send to votercentral@democratsabroad.org
This email is being sent to you from the DA International list(s) on behalf of:
What do the conservative economists do so that John Mc Cain can pretend that Barck Obama raises taxes? They say that the prepositions Barack makes by cutting the taxes for the lower and the middle-class-tax-payers, are no tax-cuts. They call it "WELFARE". How clever!(?). Why don't we give John Mc.Cains tax cuts for the wealthiest another name?
Task: Assess educational qualifications of two teams in order to choose one to take over an organization (the United States of America) with numerous and complex problems - historic debt, multiple war fronts, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, skyrocketing federal spending, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc. etc.
Candidates: Here are your choices -
Team # One:
Barack Obama:Occidental College - Two years.Columbia University - B.A. political science with a specialization in international relations.Harvard Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
and
Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in political science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.) VS.
Team # Two:
John McCain:United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 out of 899and
*Sarah Palin:Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semesterNorth Idaho College - 2 semesters - general studyUniversity of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalismMatanuska-Susitna College - 1 semesterUniversity of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism
*(Anchorage Daily News adn.com)
Difficult Choice?
Destined to become a classic - hysterically funny and an amazing impersonation!!!
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/
Palin Calling for an End to Investigation She Requested
Alaska AG Also Has New Objections to Probe
By EMMA SCHWARTZ and JUSTIN ROODSept. 17, 2008
GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin shifted her tactics for the second time in three weeks on the "Troopergate" investigation, this time calling to end the very investigation that she herself called for and the one the McCain campaign had said was the only proper venue for a probe.
Palin's Attorney General, who initially launched an internal probe into Palin, even before the legislature began theirs, is now asking the legislators to withdraw their subpoenas of Palin aides and Palin's husband.
When the Alaska Legislature's Legislative Council, a Republican-dominated panel of 14 legislators which conducts business when the Legislature is out session, voted to investigate the firing of former Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan in July, Palin pledged her full support.
But almost immediately after joining the GOP ticket, Palin's Troopergate strategy veered sharply. Despite her earlier vows of full cooperation with the probe, she declared it unlawful. The legislature lacked the authority to investigate the matter, she said. Instead, it should be handled by the state personnel board, Palin asserted -- a panel which is under her authority.
