I gave you the rundown last night on the reporting we’ve been doing at TPMmuckraker on the Republican National Lawyers Association gearing up for Election Day and for more of its hyped claims about “voter fraud.”

Ground zero for the effort seems to be Illinois, where the RNLA is conducting several training sessions and where GOP Senate nominee Mark Kirk was caught on tape revealing that “voter integrity” squads would be targeting black and Latino neighborhoods.

One of the things that has emerged in the reporting so far is the deep involvement of the state Republican Party in this effort, but now it’s trying to hide its fingerprints in ways subtle and not.

To keep the effort under the radar, the party has teamed up with outside groups in the state to recruit volunteers, including a tea partying “birther,” as Suzy Khimm over at Mother Jones reports. But the party was apparently inadvertently too candid on its own website about the efforts, and has since scrubbed the earlier references to the RNLA’s training program. Also scrubbed: the party chair’s statement that “ballot integrity will be a key ingredient to our success.”

We continue to get emails from Democrats either expressing their praise for Jack Conway’s ‘Aqua Buddha’ ad or their contempt for fellow Democrats who are condemning it. And it occurs to me whether, if Conway wins, which still seems like a longshot, whether he might not be the focus of his own ‘AquaBuddhist’ caucus up in the Senate.

Now, it’s important to note: in national terms Conway is not running on a particularly progressive platform. He does support the Health Care Reform law. But he’s practically banned President Obama from entering the state before November 2nd. He’s supporting the extension of the Bush tax cuts — at least temporarily. As Kentucky is a big coal state, he’s running as the candidate of coal. I’d heard that he was insisting that all campaign vehicles be coal powered. But that was apparently just a rumor.

But he’s got that ‘D’ after his name and he’s willing to fight really hard to beat a Republican opponent who’s a far-right extremist. And a lot of Dems like that a lot.

One of them is TPM Reader JB … Read More

As you’ll remember, last week news emerged that Rich Whitney, Green Party candidate for governor in Illinois, had his named misspelled as ‘Rich Whitey’ on electronic voting machines in many Chicago area wards, many of which are majority African-American. But now the Chicago elections board has announced they’ll work overtime to get the name fixed by election day.

TPM is looking for a freelance tech reporter, with possibility to turn into full-time position. If you’re interested drop us a line at our comments email (up on the right) with the subject line “Tech Reporter”.

It looks like Christine O’Donnell blew an Establishment Clause question in her debate this morning against Chris Coons in the Delaware Senate race. Here’s the AP‘s account of the exchange:

“Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?” O’Donnell asked him.

When Coons responded that the First Amendment bars Congress from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, O’Donnell asked: “You’re telling me that’s in the First Amendment?”

In O’Donnell’s (mild) defense, it’s a common refrain among those pushing for more inclusiveness for religion in public life that the phrase “separation of church and state” is not actually contained in the Constitution. The origin of the phrase is believed to be this 1802 letter penned by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury (CT) Baptist association.

I think it’s possible that O’Donnell was trying to make that point here. It’s a tenuous point, at best, and so mine is not much of a defense of her. But it would surprise me if she blanked entirely on the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.

Late Update: Video of the debate is after the jump: Read More

People have been pretty much writing off the Pennsylvania Senate race. But Joe Sestak’s been closing the margin a bit. And now PPP has a poll out showing Sestak ahead by one point. That comes after two Dem-sponsored polls from earlier this month with showed a tie or Sestak just ahead. Worth remembering that Sestak did manage a late charge that pushed him to a win against Arlen Specter in the primary. See all the results here.

‘Victim’ in Aqua Buddha incident steps forward to talk about ad.

Palin endorses Raese in Pennsylvania.

He’s running in West Virginia. Though I’m sure Gov. Manchin would be happy if Raese’s supporters showed up in Pennsylvania to vote for him.

Rasmussen’s had Conway real far back all year. But he just released his new poll and it shows Conway moving from 11 points to 5 points back in three weeks.

It seems Joe Miller’s personal security team threatened to ‘detain’ other reporters too. See the video.