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Secret
Document Suggests GOP Preparing to Challenge Black Vote in
Florida
The Battle for the Senate: Eight Key Races
Jailed Palestinian Prof. Sami Al-Arian Dominates Florida
Senate Race
Secret Document Suggests GOP Preparing to Challenge
Black Vote in Florida
Investigative reporter Greg Palast exposes a secret document
within the Republican Party in Florida that contains nearly
1,900 names and addresses of voters in the predominantly black
and Democratic areas of Jacksonville. The so-called "caging
list" could be used to block and harass African-American
voters.
Concerns continue to mount across the country over the fairness
of next Tuesday's election. Already problems have emerged
in many states. In one county in Ohio, more than 900 registered
voters have been told they must appear in court on Saturday
to defend their voter eligibility or risk losing their right
to vote. In Wisconsin, scores of students report that their
local elections board says it has no record of their voter
registration. In Nevada, fallout continues after the it emerged
that a group registering voters had destroyed possible hundreds
of ballots of voters who identified themselves as Democrats.
But nowhere is concern greater than in the state of Florida,
the epicenter of the theft of the election in 2000.
Yesterday, the deputy election supervisor in one of Florida's
most populous counties admitted that some 60,000 absentee
ballots had gone missing. Broward county election official
Gisela Salas said the matter is under investigation by law
enforcement agencies. In 2000, it was Broward county that
gave Al Gore his strongest support in the state of Florida.
The US Postal Service says it has investigators trying to
find the missing ballots, which constitute 5 percent of Broward
County's electorate.
This comes as investigative reporter Greg Palast obtained
a secret document from inside Bush campaign headquarters in
Florida. The document suggests a plan-possibly in violation
of the law-to disrupt voting in the state"s African-American
voting districts.
Two e-mails, prepared for the executive director of the Bush
campaign in Florida and the campaign's national research director
in Washington DC, contain a 15-page so-called "caging
list". It lists more than 1,800 names and addresses of
voters in predominantly Black and traditionally Democratic
areas of Jacksonville, Florida. Palast broke the story on
BBC's Newsnight program. Today, we broadcast the story in
its entirety for the first time on US television and radio.
Here is Greg Palast's report.
- Greg Palast,
investigative reporter with the BBC and author of the books
"The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" and "Democracy
and Regulation." He has a new documentary out called
"Bush Family Fortunes."
The Battle for the Senate: Eight Key Races
As all eyes focus on the race for the White House, we take
a look at some of the Senate races across the country that
will determine which party controls the next Senate on November
2nd. We speak with Ron Faucheux of Campaigns & Elections
magazine's Political Oddsmaker, an online elections handicapping
service.
With just five days to go before the November 2nd election,
President Bush and John Kerry are focusing their campaign
efforts only on states designated as key battleground states
in their bid for the presidency. While the race for the White
House appears too close to call, the battle for the Senate
is even more uncertain.
Republicans currently rule the 100-member Senate over Democrats
by 51 to 48, with one independent who usually votes Democratic.
Heading into the homestretch of the 2004 election, the two-party
tug-of-war over the Senate essentially comes down to eight
key races seats.
Five of the eight are currently held by Democrats: South
Dakota, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
The GOP holds the other three: Alaska, Colorado and Oklahoma.
Today we take a look at some of those closely fought Senate
races that will determine which party controls the Senate
majority on November 2nd.
- Ron Faucheux, contributor Campaigns
& Elections magazine and producer of the Political
Oddsmaker, an online elections handicapping service.
He teaches at the Graduate School of Political Management
at George Washington University.
Jailed Palestinian Prof. Sami Al-Arian Dominates
Florida Senate Race
We take a look at the race for Florida's U.S. senate seat
between Democratic candidate Betty Castor and Republican candidate
Mel Martinez where the case of jailed Palestinian professor
Sami Al-Arian has become a major subject of debate.
The Florida U.S. Senate seat opened up after Democratic
Sen. Bob Graham announced he was stepping down after three
terms in office. On the Democratic ticket is former state
Education Commissioner Betty Castor. On the Republican side
is Mel Martinez, President Bush's former secretary of Housing
and Urban Development.
Recent surveys show the two candidates locked in a dead heat.
While issues such as the Iraq war, minimum wage and Social
security have been hotly debated, one subject has clearly
dominated the race: the case of Sami Al-Arian.
Sami Al-Arian was a tenured Palestinian professor of computer
science at the University of South Florida. While Betty Castor
was president of the university, al-Arian was accused of raising
money for Palestinian militant groups. Castor placed al-Arian
on paid administrative leave but when no charges were filed,
she eventually reinstated him.
In February 2003, after Castor had left USF, Al-Arian was
arrested by the FBI. The Justice Department handed down a
sweeping 50-count indictment, accusing him of masterminding
a terrorist support group that thrived in south Florida for
nearly 20 years. Sami Al-Arian has been in prison since then,
awaiting trial on charges of racketeering and conspiracy to
commit murder.
At the first televised Senatorial debate between Castor and
Martinez in Florida, moderator Tim Russert of NBC raised the
case of al Arian in his first question.
- John Sugg, senior editor for Creative
Loafing, an Atlanta-based alternative weekly newspaper.
He has been closely following the case of Sami Al-Arian
for several years.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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