10.26.2004

Stray GOP emails reveal "caging" list: As Dick Cheney discovered with his factcheck.com slip-up during his debate, GOP operatives are realizing what a difference a dot-org makes. Emails mistakenly sent to georgewbush.org (instead of .com) went into a catchall mailbox at an anti-Bush spoof site (home to Pleasure Boat Captains for Truth and a Bush bio that describes the former Texas governor as "a man of unbeatable name recognition with a massive campaign war chest" who "shaped policy based on the principles of big-balled rodeo justice, eminent domain, petrochemical exhaust rights, and bountiful lethal injections.").

But aside from the fun of overhearing some angsty, sometimes goofy Republicans, the published emails exposed something potentially sinister-- "caging lists" that could be used for voter intimidation. As Greg Palast reports, the list contains 1,886 names and addresses of voters in largely African American, largely Democratic Jacksonville, Florida. An elections supervisor in Tallahassee says "The only possible reason why they would keep such a thing is to challenge voters on election day."

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