Worth Noting
Electoral Explorer
The New York Times has a fascinating tool online which allows us political junkies to explore the presidential vote breakdown in counties defined by the characteristics of their population. The “Electoral Explorer” shows the vote in counties with a specified percentage of the population that's black, white, Hispanic, Catholic, Southern Baptist, high school or college graduates, unemployed, over 65, employed in manufacturing jobs, in poverty, as well as median income and population density.Keep in mind that you’re looking at the vote only in counties that fit the characteristics which you specify. So, just because Sen. Obama won 75% of the vote in Dimmit County, Texas which is 95% Catholic, the national Catholic vote didn’t mirror that trend. However, you can glean a lot of interesting information playing around with this. Have fun!
An Obama Tilt in Campaign Coverage
The Post provided a lot of good campaign coverage, but readers have been consistently critical of the lack of probing issues coverage and what they saw as a tilt toward Democrat Barack Obama. My surveys, which ended on Election Day, show that they are right on both counts
My assistant, Jean Hwang, and I have been examining Post coverage since Nov. 11 of last year on issues, voters, fundraising, the candidates' backgrounds and horse-race stories on tactics, strategy and consultants. We also have looked at photos and Page 1 stories since Obama captured the nomination June 4.
The count was lopsided, with 1,295 horse-race stories and 594 issues stories. The Post was deficient in stories that reported more than the two candidates trading jabs; readers needed articles, going back to the primaries, comparing their positions with outside experts' views. There were no broad stories on energy or science policy, and there were few on religion issues.
FULL ARTICLE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/11/09/ST2008110901017.html
Blue and Red
There’s a lot of blue on the election map this year. Follow this link and select “Voting Shifts” on the left side of the page for a map showing the change in party vote across the United States.As you can see, Obama’s margin in most states improved on Kerry’s performance in 2004. Aside from Arkansas and Louisiana, which swung more Republican in 2008 from 2004, and Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia, where the margins stayed constant, there was a nationwide shift toward the Democratic Party.
Professor Andrew Gelman of Columbia University correctly notes that this was not a redrawing of the electoral map, but a national swing. His analysis shows that after accounting for this swing in Obama’s favor, most states were within 3 points of where they were in the last presidential election, making it premature for Democrats to claim traditionally red states have realigned to the left.
Furthermore, there’s evidence that geographically, America’s still a Republican country. Obama won 864 counties, up from Kerry’s 583 four years ago, but still far short of McCain’s 2,234 counties.
History will favor Republicans in 2010—no president aside from FDR and George W. Bush has ever gained seats in his first midterm election in both houses. Since World War II, the out-party gained an average of 23 seats in the House and 2 in the Senate in a new president’s first midterm election.
Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me
PETER SAGAL, HOST: What did you guys think of the election night coverage? Good, bad, indifferent?CHARLIE PIERCE, THE BOSTON GLOBE: I don't know. I hate to say it, but you know who was really good?
PETER SAGAL: Who?
CHARLIE PIERCE: Karl Rove
AMY DICKINSON, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Yeah, he was on Fox.
CHARLIE PIERCE: He was doing the county-by-county thing on Fox, he was really good.
AMY DICKINSON: He was doing the John Madden, you know mark up on the board, he was really good.
CHARLIE PIERCE: And you could hardly notice the brimstone on his feet too, that was great.
Rove Calls It: Obama Carries Nebraska District
Omaha World-Herald by Robynn Tysver, 11/8/08: "For the first time ever, a blue circle will appear in Nebraska on national electoral maps. Democrat Barack Obama won the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District on Friday, scooping up one of the state's five electoral votes. Obama won 8,434 of 15,039 mail-in ballots counted Friday by Douglas County election officials. … McCain won the popular vote statewide and four electoral votes. … Obama's win will assuredly spark interest in the split electoral system, which only Nebraska and Maine use. All other states are winner-take-all on electoral votes."
The Wall Street Journal by Karl Rove, 5/8/08: "Mr. Obama…may make an attempt at winning one or two of Nebraska's electoral votes (it awards its electoral votes by congressional district)."
Not Rocket Science
Karl Rove provides a wealth of interesting information. First, how junky were the exit polls?
The raw numbers forecast an 18-point Obama win, news organizations who underwrote the poll arbitrarily dialed it down to a 10-point Obama edge, and the actual margin was six.
One wonders why they even bother. But the end-all and be-all of ”change” elections is really continuity:
But we do know President-elect Obama ran better among frequent churchgoers (perhaps getting 10 points more than John Kerry did), independents (perhaps five points more than Kerry and eight points more than Al Gore), Hispanics and white men. He even made special appeals to gun owners and sent his wife to cultivate military families. This allowed him to carry previously red states like Florida, New Mexico and Iowa. This combination helped Senator Obama run four points better nationally than John Kerry did in 2004 and 2.5 points better than Al Gore did in 2000. These small changes on the margin meant all the difference between winning and losing.
It is a tribute to his skills that Mr. Obama, the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate, won in a country that remains center-right. Most pre-election polls and the wiggly exits indicate America remains ideologically stable, with 34% of voters saying they are conservative — unchanged from 2004. Moderates went to 44% from 45% of the electorate, while liberals went to 22% from 21%.
So he only did 4% better than Kerry, in many ways the quintessential dismal liberal candidate. And the electorate didn’t change much ideologically, either. What the Democrats did do was out-organize and out-perform the Republicans, in large part because they had an exciting candidate with a message which resonated with an available pool of new voters.
That helps clarify things a bit for Republicans. Perhaps wholesale reinvention isn’t what’s needed. A solid, well-articulated message with an attractive candidate and a whole bunch of nuts and bolts party-building will go a long way. A lot will depend on how successful the new President is. But it really is no mystery how he did it. Duplicating the feat may be tougher, however, especially if conservative wise-guys are bent on doing their best to tarnish potential candidates two days after the last election.
On Target: Polling Accuracy in the 2008 Presidential Election
Which pollster came closest to predicting the 2008 presidential election? Comparing the margin of the last pre-election national poll to the actual results—as of 11/6/08, a 6.2-point Obama victory—reveals that Pew and Rasmussen were the closest to the mark, having predicted a 6-point Obama win.
Obama: Polls Over Policy?
Senator Obama recently added a new line to his stump speech claiming he is "worried about Americans who are losing their homes, and their jobs, and their life savings" while Senator McCain is "worried about losing an election."It is curious that Sen. Obama is touting himself as concerned with policy and not polls, while claiming Sen. McCain's foremost worry is electoral politics. In reality, McCain has consistently advocated policies he believed right even when the winds of public opinion blew against him.
For example, take the surge of troops in Iraq. Sen. McCain advocated a surge in the number of US troops in Iraq, when it was unpopular. In a January 2007 Gallup poll, Americans opposed the surge by a nearly 2-1 margin. McCain went against the grain of public opinion to support a winning policy. At the same time, Sen. Obama played to public sentiment by introducing legislation to prematurely end the war. McCain has often said that he would "rather lose an election than lose a war." Obama's record suggests the opposite.
Likewise, on ethanol, McCain clearly proclaimed that he opposes subsidies while campaigning in farm-heavy Iowa. Sen. Obama pandered to Iowans by supporting the subsidies.
Political maneuvering is nothing new for Sen. Obama. As a member of the Illinois State Senate, he voted "present" on issues ranging from abortion to gun control. Obama has shown a reluctance to take stances that could hurt him politically, either at the time or in the future, even on issues he claims are dear to him.
The Obama campaign is one of the most thoroughly polled and focus group-tested in modern history. Sen. Obama speaks of providing a "tax cut" to Americans with no income tax liability. He doesn’t call this program welfare because the policy sounds better when dubbed a tax decrease. Obama has even run an ad calling government run healthcare "extreme." However, Obama's own website quotes him as saying that starting from scratch he would design a single-payer system. If that’s not political spin that prioritizes winning elections over candid explantions, I don’t know what is.
The examples go on and on. Sen. McCain has constantly advocated solid policies, regardless of focus groups and polls, while Sen. Obama has not. It’s odd that Obama would draw attention to this aspect of the campaign, considering both men's records.
Obama's New Deal No Better Than Old One
With victory in sight, Barack Obama's supporters are predicting that he will give us a new New Deal. To see what that might mean, let's look back on the original New Deal.
The purpose of New Deal legislation was not, as commonly thought, to restore economic growth but rather to freeze the economy in place at a time when it seemed locked in a downward spiral. Its central program, the National Recovery Administration (NRA), created 700 industry councils for firms and unions to set minimum prices and wages. The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), the ancestor of our farm bills, limited production to hold up prices. Unionization, encouraged by NRA and the 1935 Wagner Act, was meant to keep workers in jobs that the unemployed would have taken at lower pay.
Republicans fear a Barack Obama victory would turn America sharp left
If Barack Obama wins the American presidential election in nine days’ time, it will be because he has beaten the Republicans at their own game, according to Karl Rove, the noted “architect” of President George W Bush’s two victories.
The Democrats have copied Rove’s formidable tactics and ground operation, pumping out a disciplined message, assembling a broad-based coalition which includes young first-time voters and African-Americans, and drowning their Republican opponents with money.
“I’ve got to tell you, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” Rove said in an interview. “I can say, I’m deeply flattered.”
Rove recalled how Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, outlined their electoral strategy at the Democratic convention in August: “He explicitly said we have deliberately copied the army of persuasion of the Republicans.”
FULL ARTICLE: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5014706.ece
Media Coverage Far From Balanced?
A newly released study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism has confirmed what some have already suspected—media coverage of this year's presidential race has been far from balanced.
The Pew study, released October 22, found that Sen. McCain has received nearly twice as much negative news coverage as Sen. Obama (57% vs. 29%) since the conventions ended. As for positive news coverage, 36% of news stories focused on Sen. Obama were positive while just 14% of stories focused on Sen. McCain were positive.
In addition to Pew's findings, a recent Gallup poll found more than twice as many Americans—nearly half of those polled—said the news media was too liberal rather than too conservative (45% vs. 18%).
Recently, the two candidates have received almost an equal amount of media attention—a marked difference to the pre-convention period as demonstrated by the following chart.
While increased coverage might seem helpful to McCain, in reality his increased exposure has been largely offset by its unfavorable tone, which has hurt McCain more than it has helped him. According to Mark Jurkowitz, of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, most of McCain's negative news coverage is self-inflicted—a result of his reaction to the current economic crisis.
Obama: Out Of The Mainstream On Life
In my Wall Street Journal column last week, I mentioned that Sen. Obama has been trying to position himself more in line with center-right Americans and away from his record as the most liberal member of the Senate. One of the avenues through which Obama earned his title as most liberal Senator is his extreme stance on abortion. A NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted last month found that 71% of registered voters in America believe that there should be some restrictions on abortion – that is, abortion should not be legal in all cases.However, Obama has said that the first thing he’ll do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), a far left proposal that would supersede almost all restrictions on abortion. The Congressional Research Service Summary of the FOCA declares “that it is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to… terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability” or “terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect her life or her health.”
This begs the question, at what point is a fetus viable? When deciding Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court set the date of fetal viability as somewhere between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy. Based upon that definition, any regulation on abortion up to that point would be superseded by the FOCA, including parental notification laws.
Obama also supports repealing the Hyde Amendment, which has blocked most federal funding for abortion. If this amendment which has saved more than one million unborn children from abortion is repealed, it would ensure that taxpayer dollars go towards funding abortion through Medicaid and other federal programs.
Sen. Obama has worked hard to conceal his far-left views from the electorate. In two weeks, we’ll find out whether he’s succeeded.
Obama's 95% Illusion
One of Barack Obama's most potent campaign claims is that he'll cut taxes for no less than 95% of "working families." He's even promising to cut taxes enough that the government's tax share of GDP will be no more than 18.2% -- which is lower than it is today.
It's a clever pitch, because it lets him pose as a middle-class tax cutter while disguising that he's also proposing one of the largest tax increases ever on the other 5%. But how does he conjure this miracle, especially since more than a third of all Americans already pay no income taxes at all? There are several sleights of hand, but the most creative is to redefine the meaning of "tax cut."
FULL ARTICLE: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122385651698727257.html
Ohio Early Voting: Not Enough Bang for the Buckeye State
Because of a quirk in the law this year, Ohio voters were allowed to register to vote and then cast their ballots on the same day during a brief six-day window. The Ohio Republican Party went to court in an effort to stop this procedure from being implemented, but lost.A great deal was made about the ability of Democrats to use this new voting rule to their advantage. They were hoping to register many first time voters – such as students – and then ensure that they cast their ballots early right after registering.
Monday was the last day for Ohioans to register and vote on the same day, and apparently the excitement by Democrats at the new voting procedure was much ado about nothing. As I mentioned on Fox News Sunday, the Democratic hope of registering droves of same day voters just didn’t pan out.
Hamilton County, Ohio boasts nearly 600,000 registered voters. How many turned out to register and vote on the same day? 675 people through when the polls closed yesterday. That’s about one tenth of 1% of registered voters.
Cuyahoga County has nearly 1.1 million registered voters. Only 1784 folks showed up to register to vote and then voted on the same day. That’s about one sixth of 1% of registered voters in Cuyahoga County.
Finally, in Franklin County, which has about 825,000 registered voters, only 1776 people registered to vote and voted on the same day during the period through which it was allowed. That’s about one fifth of 1% of registered voters in the county. Franklin County is the home of Ohio State University. This should give Sen. Obama cause to worry about Ohio. All of the talk about Democrats bringing in busloads of early voters, particularly students, to register and then vote didn’t turn into action. There were not many new registrants added to the roll. It seems that those busses of folks being driven to the polls were full of a lot of people that had already registered, and may have simply voted on election day anyway.
Biden: Factually Wrong
Karl Rove joined Hannity & Colmes to share some post-VP debate thoughts and outlined where Sen. Joe Biden got it wrong. From misinterpreting the constitutional role of the vice president to misrepresenting Sen. McCain’s record on key issues, including tax increases and funding of troops in Iraq, Karl Rove counted 10 factually wrong statements made by Sen. Biden during the course of the debate. Below is a clip from Karl’s appearance on Hannity & Colmes, followed by some of his notes on each of Sen. Biden’s misstatements.
Notes from the Architect:
- Sen. Biden claimed that Sen. McCain voted the same way that Sen. Obama did on the Democratic budget resolution that calls for a tax increase on those making as little as $42,000 a year. In fact, on March 14, 2008 and again on June 4, 2008, Sen. Obama voted for the Democratic budget resolution, while Sen. McCain did not.
Sources: U.S. Senate Legislation & Records – March 14, 2008 Vote, Resolution; U.S. Senate Legislation & Records – June 4, 2008: Vote, Resolution - Sen. Biden claimed that in an Obama Administration the top earners in America would "pay no more than they did under Ronald Reagan." When President Reagan came into office, the top marginal tax rate was 70 percent. While in office, he lowered the top marginal tax rate to 28 percent. In an Obama Administration, the top marginal tax rate would be raised to 39.6 percent, which is higher than President Reagan's 28 percent.
Sources: The Impact of the Presidential Candidates' Tax Proposals on Effective Marginal Tax Rates; Lowering Marginal Tax Rates: The Key to Pro-Growth Tax Relief - Senator Biden claimed that it would take 10 years to get any oil from new production. However, the chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute estimates that some offshore installations could be brought online within only 2-3 years.
Source: CNN Money: American's favor offshore drilling - On the Resolution to Authorize the Use of Force Against Iraq, Sen. Biden stated that he "voted for the power because he [President Bush] said he needed it not to go to war but to keep the United States, the UN in line, to keep sanctions on Iraq and not let them be lifted."
In fact, on October 2, 2002 before Sen. Biden voted for the resolution, President Bush said that if Saddam Hussein "persists in his defiance, the use of force may become unavoidable."
Source: White House Office of the Press Secretary: President, House Leadership Agree on Iraq Resolution - Senator Biden claimed that "with regard to Barack Obama not quote funding the troops, John McCain voted the exact same way." That is incorrect, as Sen. McCain voted for the final passage of the bill funding the troops while Sen. Obama voted against the bill.
Sources: U.S. Senate Legislation & Records – May 24, 2007 Vote H.R. 2206; Bill - Sen. Biden claimed "we spend more money in three weeks on combat in Iraq than we spent on the entirety of the last seven years that we have been in Afghanistan building that country."
In reality, according to the Congressional Budget Office and Department of Defense, of the funds appropriated for activities related to the war on terror around Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007, "Operation Iraqi Freedom accounted for approximately 85 percent of all reported obligations; Operation Enduring Freedom (which refers mainly to operations in and around Afghanistan) accounted for another 15 percent." The US spends as much in 51 weeks – not 7 years – in Afghanistan as it spends in every three weeks in Iraq.
Source: Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2008 to 2018 - Sen. Biden said of Vice President Cheney that, "He doesn't realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that's the Executive Branch."
However, Article I of the Constitution is actually about the Legislative Branch of government and the Vice President is mentioned in both Article I (Sections 3) and Article II (Sections 1 & 4).
Source: Cornell University Law School: The United States Constitution - Sen. Biden said that Gov. Palin "imposed a windfall profits tax up there in Alaska." The Encyclopedia Britannica defines an excess or windfall profits tax as a tax on an amount of profit that exceeds a set standard. An example of a windfall profits tax is President Carter's 1980 tax on oil company profits, where the government took 50 percent of everything above $26 a barrel.
However, Gov. Palin's energy policy was an increase in the royalties paid for oil pumped from state lands, not a windfall profits tax.
Sources: Britannica Online Dictionary - Sen. Biden claimed "Barack Obama, first thing he did when he came to the United States Senate, new senator, reached across the aisle to my colleague, Dick Lugar, a Republican, and said, "We've got to do something about keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists."
"They put together a piece of legislation that, in fact, was serious and real. Every major – I shouldn't say every – on the two at least that I named, I know that John McCain has been opposed to extending the arms control regime in the world."
In fact, this vote was so uncontroversial and unimportant that it passed the Senate by voice vote, where the votes of Senators are not even recorded. For more information on Sen. Obama's backing for what was a Bush Administration initiative and more examples of Senator Biden's hype, see my Weekly Standard piece, Biden's Exaggerations.
Sources: Sen. Obama Press Release: Lugar-Obama Bill to Keep Weapons Out of Terrorists' Hands Passes Congress - Sen. Biden claimed that on US action in Bosnia "initially John McCain opposed it along with a lot of other people."
However, Senator McCain actually helped to pass a Senate resolution supporting the American mission in Bosnia. He voted for the resolution on December 13, 1995.
Sources: Q&A/John McCain: Why Senate Skeptic Backed Bosnia Mission, U.S. Senate Legislation & Records – December 13, 1995 Vote
Election Is About Obama
BENTON HARBOR - The two-year, wide-open White House race with no incumbents for the first time since 1952 boils down to one factor, according to Karl Rove.
Rove, who masterminded President George W. Bush's successful White House bids in 2000 and 2004, told The Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan Monday night at Lake Michigan College Mendel Center, "This election is about Obama."
Rove said the presidential election "would be over" had Obama selected Hillary Clinton for vice president instead of Joe Biden, robbing John McCain of an opening to energize his campaign by selecting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for vice president.
FULL ARTICLE: Election is about Obama
Democrats to Let Offshore Drilling Ban Expire
Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in a months-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by $4 a gallon gasoline prices this summer.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., told reporters Tuesday that a provision continuing the moratorium will be dropped this year from a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running after Congress recesses for the election.
FULL ARTICLE: Democrats to Let Offshore Drilling Ban Expire
Debate Effects
The first of three presidential debates is scheduled for this Friday, the 26th of September. We can expect to see the two campaigns positioning themselves and trying to manipulate (lower) expectations in the coming days, and we can also expect the media to focus on how pivotal the debates might be to determining the contours of the remaining weeks of the campaign. These things will happen because of the high visibility nature of these one-night events and the relatively high stakes if one side or another does a lousy job.
But do debates really have much of an impact on the campaign? Are elections won or lost because of debate performances? Is there much of a debate bump? In Do Campaigns Matter? I argued that debates have relatively limited effects because they occur relatively late in the campaign, when opinions are less pliable, and because--unlike conventions--the information flow is relatively balanced, with both sides making their case.
FULL BLOG ENTRY: Debate Effects
Karl Rove talks health care with Paul Howard
On September 17th and 18th, the White House Writers Group and the West Wing Writers hosted a conference entitled "America’s Health Care at Risk: Finding a Cure," which brought together major stakeholders in the health care debate for a high-level dialogue to generate real and lasting solutions. Paul Howard, Manhattan Institute's director for its Center for Medical Progress and managing editor of MedicalProgressToday.com, interviewed several of the panelists and speakers who participated in the conference.
The Losers Have Spoken
Can't they accept responsibility for their own defeats?
- "Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself. And what's more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same "Rove" tactics and the same "Rove" staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear. Well, not this year, not this time. The Rove-McCain tactics are old and outworn, and America will reject them in 2008." - John Kerry, Remarks to the Democratic National Convention, 8/27/08
Now I'm a Vietnam Prison Guard
He's wrong. My campaign plans are too complicated to be drawn with sticks.
Dick Cheney called; he wants his suit back
Washington Post Editorial Cartoon by Tom TolesThe New York Times Got it Wrong
In a New York Times story online (see, Democrats Call for Contempt Charges Against Rove), David Stout writes, "Mr. Rove has repeatedly stated - though not before Congress and not under oath - that he had no involvement in the Siegelman case…”
Mr. Stout is mistaken. Mr. Rove's counsel made repeat offers to satisfy the Committee's interest while also preserving the legal issue raised by the President's assertion of privilege, proposing to have Mr. Rove meet with Committee members and staff or reply to written questions. On July 15, Lamar Smith, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a series of interrogatories concerning the Siegelman allegations to Mr. Rove. The interrogatories and responses dated July 22, while not under oath, are subject to laws punishing efforts to obstruct Congress. Mr. Rove answered questions about the allegations in considerable detail and unequivocally denied any involvement, direct or indirect, in the investigation or prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman.
The Times made even another error, this time in the print edition dated July 31, 2008. Charlie Savage incorrectly writes (see, For White House, Hiring is Political) that the House Judiciary Committee's subpoena to Mr. Rove concerned allegations of political interference with the Department of Justice (DOJ). However, the Judiciary Committee's subpoena to Mr. Rove was issued in May 2007 and primarily concerned the Siegelman allegations, not the politicization of the Justice Department. Looks like even a Pulitzer is no guarantee of error-free journalism.
Preston on Politics: Bueller? Bueller? -- McCain needs Rove
Ben Stein says he knows how Sen. John McCain can win in November: Karl Rove.
That's right, that Karl Rove.
At a time when McCain is seeking to distance himself from President Bush, Stein argues McCain needs to enlist Bush's chief political guru in order to defeat Sen. Barack Obama.
"I don't discount the possibility that some really smart person at the McCain campaign might go over to Karl Rove, and say 'We will offer you all the kingdoms of the world if you will come and guide our campaign,' " a hopeful-sounding Stein said in a recent interview, during which he also discussed Al Franken's Senate bid and his thoughts on a sequel to the 1986 box office smash "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," which launched Stein's film career.
Karl Rove Responds to Judiciary Committee
Honoring the President's executive privilege and acting with White House approval, Karl Rove responded to Judiciary Committee questions about the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman.
- Letter from Lamar Smith dated 7/15/08
- Karl Rove's response dated 7/22/08
- Answers to Committee Questions
- Appendix