Elections 2008

The Federal Election Commission ruled on Thursday that John Edwards' 2008 presidential campaign must repay $2.3 million in federal campaign funds.

These funds had been paid to Edwards' campaign by the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, which matches funds privately raised by a campaign. An FEC audit showed that Edwards' campaign received more than it should have because of accounting errors. These kinds of audits are required as a part of the matching funds program, and it is not all that uncommon for campaigns to be required to pay back a portion of the funds that were received.

Edwards dropped out of the 2008 race on January 30, 2008. He has pled not guilty to federal criminal charges that he accepted $1 million from two supporters to keep his pregnant mistress hidden while he was running for the Democratic Party nomination. A criminal trial has tentatively been set to start in October.

The FEC issue is not related to the criminal case. The FEC shows that Edwards' presidential campaign had $2.6 million in cash at the end of June, which is enough to cover the amount needed to be repaid.

A federal grand jury charged former Senator and two-time presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday with six felony counts, including conspiracy, four counts of receiving illegal campaign contributions and one count of false statements.

The North Carolina native is accused of soliciting and secretly spending more than $925,000 to hide his mistress and their out-of-wedlock baby from the public and the height of his 2008 presidential campaign. According to the indictment, the payments made with money from two wealthy supporters were a scheme to protect Edwards' presidential aspirations and his image as a devoted family man.

Edwards arrived at the federal courthouse Friday afternoon, along with his daughter, Cate. Edwards was there for an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patric Auld, and federal officials listed him as being in custody.

Prosecutors say that the spending was illegal because Edwards, 57, should have reported it on public campaign finance filings and because it exceeded the $2,300 limit per person for campaign contributions. Edwards' attorney, Gregory Craig, contends that there is no way that anyone, including Edwards himself, would have known that the payments should have been treated as campaign contributions.

John Edwards made a huge mistake when he denied having an affair with Rielle Hunter, a former campaign staffer, because the National Enquirer just won't let it go. He subsequently admitted to the affair and to being the father of her baby, and now he's being investigated over campaign finance violations. The Enquirer now reports that one of Edwards' close friends believes that the former Senator is suicidal.

The source explained:

"He knows that if he's indicted, prosecutors will try to get him to serve jail time and make an example of him. He's absoluetly despondent over the fear of prison ... Over the last year, he's lost about 20 lb and friends are concerned that he's escaping reality with booze ...

In early March, his legal team told him there was a strong chance he could be indicted, and John completely lost it. He cried his eyes out and said, 'I won't go to jail. I'd kill myself first!'"

But, his suicide wouldn't be easy, and Edwards is said to be "extremely distraught" over the fact that killing himself would make his three oldest children, Cate, 28; Emma, 12; and Jack, 10; orphans because their mother Elizabeth Edwards died in December after a long struggle with breast cancer.

When Barack Obama was running for president, he made all kinds of promises, as all politicians do. One of those promises was that he'd join a picket line with the working class if the right of workers to collectively bargain was being threatened. Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio are all agressively seeking to pass legislation that would eliminate collective bargaining rights for many of their states' public workers. So where's Obama?

President Obama promised:

"And understand this: If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I'm in the White House, I'll put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself, I'll walk on that picket line with you as President of the United States of America. Because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner."

Thus far he's not shown up to any demonstrations or picket lines that I know of. He probably never expected what's going on now to actually happen after the sweeping victories of the Democrats in 2008, which has since been reversed and swung back to Republican control.

The community organizing group ACORN, which attracted a lot of attention during the 2008 presidential elections, has agreed to give up its Ohio business liscense and not return under another name. The group has made similar settlements in other states after being sued by a libertarian center.

U.S. District Judge Herman Weber in Cincinnati signed off on the deal, which settles claims brought by the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law against ACORN's voter registration practices. Other terms of the deal are confidential and will not be revealed.

In a lawsuit, the center alleged that ACORN's voter registrationd drives amounted to organized crime because the group turned in a pattern of fradulent forms. Maurice Thompson, the attorney for the center, said that restricting ACORN's ability to support or enable other groups to "do what they do" was crucial to the deal, especially in a state like Ohio, which he characterized as "ground zero" to their voter advocacy efforts.

Thompson said:

GOP Base Believes ACORN Helped Him Steal the Election

According to a new national poll from Public Policy Polling, a majority of Republicans do not believe that Barack Obama actually won the 2008 election. Instead, they believe that ACORN stole it.

The poll posed the question, "Do you think that Barack Obama legitimately won the Presidential election last year, or do you think that ACORN stole it for him?" Overall, 62% of Americans believe he won legitimately and 26% believe ACORN stole it.

Amongst Republicans, however, a mere 27% believe that Obama actually won. A 52% majority of Republicans believe that ACORN stole it. 22% were undecided.

In comparision, Independents came in with 72% believing Obama won, 18% believing that ACORN stole the election, and 10% undecided. Democrats came in at 86%, 9% and 4% respectively.

One of the obvious comparisions that could be made here is that many Democrats felt that George W. Bush did not legitimately win the 2000 election. There are, however, some pretty big differences. The first being that Al Gore actually won the popular vote, but lost in a disputed recount process in Florida. In comparison, John McCain lost in 2008 by a 53% to 46% margin.

On Tuesday the Minnesota Supreme Court declared Al Franken, a Democrat, the winner of a U.S. Senate race over Republican Norm Colman. This victory should now give Democrats the coveted 60-seat majority that is needed to push through agenda as well as overcome procedural obstacles.

In published reports, Coleman had said that he would be unlikely to appeal the state court's decision to the federal courts. Under Minnesota law, the court's decision gives Franken the right to occupy the seat. The Senate seat in question has been up for grabs since last November's election, when the results were so tight that neither side would concede.

After the Nov. 4 election, Coleman was shown to have a slight lead. However such a slim margin triggered an automatic recount, which then put Franken ahead by 225 votes. Coleman contested the results of the recount, and a judicial panel agreed to add a few hundred previously rejected absentee ballots, which only expanded Franken's lead to 312 votes.

Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty has said that he will certify the election winner based on what the state court decides. In this case, he is expected to certify Franken the winner.

Three individuals who traveled to Ohio for a get-out-the-vote effort during the 2008 presidential campaign, have now been fined $1,000 each for voting in the state. In addition to that, they've each been given a year of probation and a 60-day suspended jail sentence.

On Tuesday, Daniel Hausman, 32, of New York City; Amy Little, 50, of New Paltz, NY; and Yolanda Hippensteele, 30, of California pleaded guilty to misdemeanor illegal voting charges.

Prosecutors say that all three cast early absentee ballots without meeting residency requirements. The county prosecutor had previously warned visiting campaigners that they could not vote in Ohio if they did not plan on staying beyond the election.

According to the National Enquirer, multiple sources are now confirming their report from one week ago that a federal grand jury is investigating possible misuse of presidential campaign funds by John Edwards, which were said to have been used to pay off his mistress, with whom he had a secret love child.

Multiple local reports confirm that a federal grand jury did in fact convene on Wednesday in Raleigh, North Carolina. U.S. attorney George Holding said this weekend that he "was not going to confirm of deny any investigation" regarding Edwards.

Grand jury proceedings are kept strictly secret, and attorneys caught discussing such investigations in the public or with the press are subject to criminal prosecution.

Edward's mentor, Wade Smith, a top NC lawyer, is believed to be representing Edwards before the grand jury investigation. Smith, however, declined to comment on whether he was representing the former NC Senator.

"I'm at a place where I cannot make any comment to confirm or deny. I can't say anything. It's possible, at some later point, I can," said Smith.