Nasty Republican Phone Tricks

Via Josh Marshall, a very interesting post about the kind of stunt Republicans are apt to engage in on election day 2002, jamming the Democrats' phones to stymie their get-out-the-vote efforts.

...Well, in the background this case has been plugging along. And two folks -- the executive director of the state party, Chuck McGee and Allen Raymond, head of the now-defunct GOP Marketplace -- have pled guilty to federal charges in the case.

A lingering question coming out of the investigation though is the identity of this "official in a national political organization" who played a role in putting the whole scam together...

But now it seems the has confirmed the involvement of the person in question.

Saith the Union Leader today: "We can’t tell you who it is or whether he broke any laws, but we can tell you the person questioned by the feds has a significant role in the Bush-Cheney campaign."

Perhaps some of the national outlets should start poking around on this one?

Perhaps they should. Not that it will come as a surprise to anyone who pays attention to how our news media works - or doesn't - that this local story with huge national implications so far remains a local story.

There certainly a lot of ways for the nefarious to mess with election outcomes, but until 2000 the only worriers wore tinfoil hats. Today a certain level of justified paranoia belongs to all of us.