Of all the developments in The Voting Wars since 2000, the lead story has to be the successful Republican effort to create an illusion of a voter fraud epidemic used to justify a host of laws, especially tough new state voter identification requirements, with the aim to suppress Democratic turnout and to excite the Republican base about “stolen” elections. Democrats sometimes have exaggerated the likely effects of such laws on turnout–we won’t see millions of voters disenfranchised by state voter id laws, for example. But in a very close presidential election, as we are likely to see in November, new voter id rules, voter purges in places like Colorado and Florida, cutbacks in early voting in Ohio, and other technical changes have the potential to suppress Democratic turnout enough to swing the election from Obama to Romney.

How did we get here? Our story begins with what Josh has aptly referred to as “bamboozlement” by a group of political operatives, “The Fraudulent Fraud Squad.” Read More

Snap PPP Poll shows the Missouri Senate race essentially unchanged: Akin over McCaskill 44-43. Little changed from previous poll.

Late Update: Surprised? I can’t say I am. And you shouldn’t be either. Don’t underestimate partisan division and affiliation, the fact that Akin’s views aren’t that odd or disagreeable to a lot of people and the simple fact that people don’t change their minds that easily in 24 hours. But … this is a poll that only Claire McCaskill could love. Read More

A glimpse at Todd Akin’s last-ditch fundraising push to prove his viability as a Senate candidate despite no national GOP support.

As Evan McMorris-Santoro just reported, in the face of overwhelming Republican machine demands for him to withdraw from the Missouri Senate race, Rep. Todd Akin (R) has just launched his “I’m Not Quitting’ ad campaign. And remember, it matters a good deal whether Akin drops out tomorrow or the day after, even assuming he drops out at all. Because the first deadline for getting out is tomorrow afternoon. Read More

If you wondered why the FBI could possibly have been interested in a congressman skinnydipping in the Sea of Galilee, well, it wasn’t. Ryan Reilly explains.

Whether Todd Akin stays or goes comes down to how much money the grassroots of the conservative wing of the Republican Party throws his way in the next 12-24 hours. Establishment Republicans and the national party committees have yanked their support, and for a time earlier this afternoon that looked like it would be enough to shove Akin out of the Senate race. But Akin says he’s in it to win it — and, oh, send me money. The only thing propping up Akin, even in his own mind, is the notion that the grassroots can supply enough cash to sustain a campaign. But he needs more than a notion. He needs to see real results and fast. I wouldn’t rule it out. Rogue Republicans were a hallmark of the 2010 campaign. The main difference between Akin and Sharron Angle or Christine O’Donnell is that he’s a sitting member of Congress. Less rogue, perhaps, but also less easy to dismiss. How much money can he raise in the next 24 hours — and how much of it will come from self-interested Dems trying to keep him in the race?

Even as Rep. Todd Akin’s political career appears to be swirling down the toilet, pro-life groups are fiercely defending him and his “legitimate rape” comments.

Never heard of Todd Akin before now? Oh, the things you’ve missed.

Shorter Cornyn: Carefully consider your future, Todd, and then decide to resign.

Family Research Council: We “enthusiastically” back Todd Akin.

As a pivotal battleground state, Ohio this year is ground zero — or near to it — of voter suppression efforts. Republican election officials are pulling out all the stops limiting opportunities to vote on every front possible. These efforts have been concentrated on urban precincts with large concentrations of African-Americans and more permissive standards in suburban areas with fewer of them. We’ll be bringing you a lot more information on this in the coming days.

But over the weekend, we finally had the GOP chair of one of the key counties come out and say he didn’t see why they should go out of their way to make it easy for African-Americans to vote.