The number and quality of Ohio-related diaries today has been great - and spirit-raising - so if this one falls by the wayside, I'll understand. However, as an old history major, I find the following stuff interesting and relevant, and some of you may too.
Earlier today I dusted off my copy of Robert Caro's Means of Ascent, part 2 of his exhaustive, definitive, fascinating, well-written, Pulitzer winning biography of Lyndon Johnson. This volume looks at LBJ's first few forays in Texas politics, and specifically his 1948 senate primary race, and how he stole it. Considering that this is the political tea Bush and Rove are steeped in, I find the following similarities to our current situation quite interesting.
First, by way of background, LBJ at the time was a US Congressman running - in the primary - against fellow dem Coke Stevenson, a very popular former Governor known unofficially as "Mr. Texas."
* 1948: During the campaign itself, Johnson brought 'dirty' to a new level in Texas by repeatedly suggesting Stevenson was a communist sympathizer. He also had a weekly state-wide radio spot, becoming the first state candidate to use the media exclusively to his advantage.
2004: Bush repeats the Swift Boat crap enough times that even reasonable republicans like Bob Dole went on national television to say, 'well, there must be something there or they wouldn't keep saying it!' (I'm paraphrasing). And instead of one weekly radio spot, the right wing now owns most of the nation's talk radio and a huge 'news' network.
* 1948: Primary election day, LBJ makes a surprise visit to San Antonio, where his campaign managers actively buy minority votes.
2004: Bush makes a surprise visit to Ohio, where it turns out the minority vote was being actively suppressed.
* 1948: After the polls closed, San Antonio was the last major city to report.
2004: After the polls closed, Ohio was the last major swing state to report.
* 1948: All voting was done on paper ballots, but in the cities these were counted by machines, and with the exception of San Antonio, the results were quickly tabulated and certified. But in the rural areas, corrupt election officials would simply count the ballots themselves, the most common tricks being to transpose the totals for the candidates, and to pad the results with 'new votes,' and then put the ballots into a convenient 'lockdown' site, essentially hoping to create a paperless trail.
2004: our current system of voting has been discussed here in ample quantity - suffice it to say, we have innumerable problems with almost every type of ballot cast, the most alarming of which is the paperless black box.
* 1948: After the dust settled, and after San Antonio went overwhelmingly for LBJ (after having gone overwhelmingly for Stevenson in an earlier primary), LBJ still found himself short of votes. But LBJ and his campaign staff knew Texas like the back of their hands - every county, every precinct, every poll tax - they knew the numbers - what they had, what Stevenson had, what they had to get and from where. He turned up votes here and there all over the place, he was a really wicked politician, but the election ultimately turned thanks to a corrupt election boss in a county south of San Antonio, who had a final tally manually changed from 765 to 965. LBJ ended up winning by 87 votes, which margin earned him the nickname 'Landslide Lyndon.'
2004: Exit polls show Bush losing - Rove goes into the White House dining room, spreads out his maps of US precincts and gets to work on his phone, behind closed doors. I'm not sure the dust has settled yet on this one, but 'Man Date Bush' works for me until it does
How did it all end? Coke Stevenson knew he'd been robbed and fought hard to keep LBJ's name off the November ballot. He initiated a recount, but the courts ruled to stop it. In the end, a combination of LBJ's DC connections and somehow managing to keep one step ahead of Stevenson's efforts enabled him to get on the ballot and soundly defeat his republican opponent.
So this is a little lesson in Texas politics, mid-20th century. Not so distant that our least favorite president ever didn't learn something from it. Even if Rove doesn't have a copy of this book on his shelf, he knows full well how the game is played. Of course, as a disclaimer, there are lots of differences. Anyone else out there a Caro fan?