Ed Schultz says a RW station in Kucinich's district is asking GOPers to vote in the Dem Primary.

[onehandle]

They are calling for them to vote for Kucinich's opponent and knock him out of the primary.

This is exactly what happened to Cynthia McKinney here a few years ago. The GOP picked our Democratic Primary candidate.

Dennis will be on the show to talk about this.

[leftofcool]

1. Can this be true?

Surely Republicans would not vote in a Democratic primary for someone they didn't like just to keep another person out..........would they? Do you think that all those nice little repukes that have voted for Obama in the Democratic primaries will vote for him in the GE?

Left of Cool

[onehandle]

6. It happened here in Georgia in 2002.

"McKinney was defeated in the 2002 Democratic primary due to Republican crossover voting in Georgia's open primary election which permit anyone from any party to vote in any party primary."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_McKinney

[rinsd]

10. You can't have crossover voting when one does not register party preference.

Also the wiki article no longer contains that sentence

McKinney protested the result in court, claiming that thousands of Republicans, knowing they had no realistic chance of defeating her in the November general election, had voted in the Democratic primary against McKinney in revenge for her anti-Bush administration views and her allegations of possible voter fraud in Florida in the 2000 Presidential Election. Like 20 other states, Georgia operates an open primary: voters do not align with a political party when they register to vote and may participate in whichever party's primary election they choose. Thus, relying on the Supreme Court's decision in California Democratic Party v. Jones, which had held that California's blanket primary violated the First Amendment (despite the fact that the Court explicitly differentiated — albeit in dicta — the blanket primary from the open primary in Jones), on McKinney's behalf, five voters claimed that the open primary system was unconstitutional, operating in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the associational right protected by the First Amendment, and various statutory rights protected by §2 of the Voting Rights Act. <3>

The district court dismissed the case, noting that the plaintiffs had presented no evidence in support of the 14th Amendment and VRA claims, and lacked standing to bring the First Amendment claim. It interpreted the Supreme Court's Jones ruling to hold that the right to association involved in a dispute over a primary — and thus, standing to sue — belongs to a political party, not an individual voter. On appeal, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this result in Osburn v. Cox,<7> in May 2004, noting that not only were the plaintiffs' claims meritless, but the remedy they requested would likely be unconstitutional under the Supreme Court's decision in Tashjian v. Republican Party of Connecticut. On October 18, 2004, the Supreme Court brought an end to the litigation, denying certiorari without comment.<8><9>

[onehandle]

12. I just copied that sentence Directly from Wikipedia.

AND. I was here. It happened and was discussed Widely in our local media.

The people behind the "movement" were open and honest about their agenda during the Primary.

It wasn't illegal, but it did happen.

[rinsd]

16. I understand that.

I just think its difficult to monitor how big an impact crossover voting is when the state does not have party registration.

[onehandle]

17. Exit polls told the story for one thing.

Also, in our primaries you take either a Democratic or a Republican ballot.

There was a "surge" of Democratic ballots used that year.

McKinney was purged and a devotee of Zell Miller took her seat for one term.

[rinsd]

18. The ballot surge I can see but I do not think there were exit polls taken in 2002.

Majette had a decent liberal voting record during her short term.

Though I think Hank Johnson is an improvement.

[onehandle]

20. I didn't support McKinney in either of her last two primaries. ('04 or '06)

The Republican crossover loss caused her to go over the top during those two years she was out. She was featured prominently in a lot of Republican fundraising letters and I had no desire to see her return.

I supported Liane Levitan in 2004. Unfortunately, Levitan (a former Dekalb County CEO) and a Cathy Woolard (an Atlanta city council President) split the "anti-McKinney" vote and McKinney was returned to office in the fall.

[rinsd]

22. What do you think of Hank Johnson so far?

[onehandle]

24. The district lines changed yet again.

Although I voted for Johnson, I'm now in John Lewis's district.

I actually didn't know that until recently and was pretty annoyed that I was never notified until I received a mailing from Lewis.

[rinsd]

25. Are you kidding? How many times have districts changed in GA in the last 10 years? 3 or 4?

[still_one]

11. A lot of Democrats aren't that fond of McKinney either /nt

[onehandle]

13. Neither was I in the end, but that's not the point.

The point is that this did happen and will happen again.

[still_one]

26. I hear you. Sorry, thanks /nt

[global1]

2. Dennis Is The Target Of A Concerted Swiftboat Attack From All Sides......

There are powers that be that are really afraid of him and they are trying to get rid of him for good. I only hope whomever the Dem nominee is - that they will come out and support him and campaign for him.

[stahbrett]

4. Obama may do that, but Kucinich hasn't agreed to support the nominee (yet) (nt)

[K Gardner]

3. Yeah.. I heard that on AA this morning. They interviewed the guy that's running

against DK and played the ad.

[UALRBSofL]

5. Is this true???

I don't see republicans cross voting to eliminate an opponent. What god would it do? BTW, I have seen republican web sites making an attempt to get the republican voters to vote for Obama in Texas since it's an open state and McCain has already wrapped up the nomination.

[onehandle]

8. It has happened before.

"McKinney was defeated in the 2002 Democratic primary due to Republican crossover voting in Georgia's open primary election which permit anyone from any party to vote in any party primary."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_McKinney

This is Not the only time it has happened.

[ellacott]

9. Cleveland is not as partisan as it is corporate

There are many Dems who are controlled by the same corporate interests that tried to ruin Dennis' tenure as Mayor.

[ellacott]

7. I'm from Cleveland, Dennis has a serious challenge in front of him

He's been getting contributions but it's coming from ouside his district, a lot from Hollywood. This has also been used against him. His opponents are pointing out the fact that he gets more support from outside of his district. The leading opponent doesn't even live in the district but said he will move in the district if elected.

[jackson_dem]

14. They are doing the same thing to Hillary

We need to have Democratic only primaries for the Democratic nomination.

[RememberWellstone]

15. The stoop lower

each and everytime...Hill will not need these rethugs help. They should be careful what they wish for.

[jasmine621]

19. Since our Dem party leaders by the rules allow this to be done,

we will get exactly what we asked for. And we won't like it in the end.

[Whisp]

21. that's what I was afraid of.

way back when Dennis dropped out, but some here assured me that Dennis' seat was solid.

slimey scumwads!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

23. they GOP has been muddting the Democrats waters for decades