Dear Diary:
Followed up on the TPM story on the undeclared voter push/pull phone calls in NH over at the Manchester Union Leader website.
From what I understand, New Hampshire is one of those state which allows voting in a party primary without having to have membership in it. As long as you are an undeclared voter, you can be a Just-In-Time Democrat, pull the lever, then "reset" your affiliation to indy.
Some force is spooking the indy herd and has not one but three scams going. 1)There was last week's story that alleged Dean supporters told undeclared voters they couldn't vote...unless it was for Dean; 2)now undeclared voters getting calls telling them they can't vote at all and 3) a rumor among 18 to 20 year-old undeclared voters that they can't vote.
What's surprising is that no one seems to remember the details-- a)who announced themselves in the call b)how the call conversation went or 3)how the young voters came to understand that they couldn't vote. Most vaguely said "they were told" or "a friend told them"
Just like the evolution of sophisticated investment and forex strategies, oldstyle Tammany fraud has evolved into complexity, and, of course, sophisticated enough not to be pinpointed.
More than attack on Dean, this drive or whatever it is, is an attack on grass roots politics.