McCain campaign continues to attack Obama campaign’s relation to ACORN

Rick Davis, adviser for the McCain/Palin campaign, continued speculation about the Barack Obama campaign's involvement in the "emerging scandal relating to ACORN." Davis accused Obama of not utilizing the time he was given during the final Presidntial debate to "spell out his historic involvement with ACORN". Davis would like to see the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) asked, "what exactly happened with that $830 thousand given to you by the Obama campaign?"

As for the McCain campaign's stance on ACORN and their voter registration, Davis said, "I believe the power the media has to bring scrutiny to these issues will help reform the process." In response to the fact that the Supreme Court just sided with Democratic election officials in Ohio over the voter registration dispute, Davis said the Supreme Court "did not make the decision based on the merits of the case."

Davis expressed his concern for lack of honesty in this election, and that there's a "cloud of suspicion hanging over this election." Davis further stated that "when John McCain gets elected President, we want to know that these are the most honest elections that Americans will have confidence in."

ACORN: Sen. McCain's proposals are an embarrassment to America

ACORN held a conference call today, dismissing the attacks made by Sen. John McCain. McCain's ad claims that ACORN forced banks to issue risky home loans, the same loans that have caused the financial crisis.

Austin King, ACORN Executive, said that McCain's idea is a "180 degree turn from the reality of what ACORN was actually trying to do." King went on to say that "while ACORN has been using every tool in the toolbox to help find solutions to the crisis, John McCain hasn't done anything but want to deregulate the system more."

Carolyn Patmon, Florida ACORN board member, said that instead of allowing families to get into risky loans, ACORN has actually been fighting against the predetory lenders and building more than $6 billion of wealth through homeownership.

ACORN Executive Director, Steve Kest, believes that if people look into McCain's voting record and his proposals, the public will see the truth behind his campaign and the negativity he will bring to the country. "John McCain's record on predetory lending is so limited that it is an embarrassment. There is not a single mention of predetory lending on documents from his senate website," Kest said during the conference call.

ACORN leaders: Don't be afraid of the McCain campaign

ACORN leaders held a press conference, trying to disprove the allegations of voter registration fraud. Reverend Gloria Swierenga, President of the Maryland ACORN, was concerned that these allegations made by the right wing would deter voters from the polls on November 4th. "We will not fall to those that have banded against us because of popularity in the national polls. We must unite through our ability to vote," Swierenga said at the press conference.

Kathryn Kolbert, Chair of the American Way, believes that there will be issues on election day voting day, but not the issues that the right wing keeps talking about. Kolbert said that people should not be shocked at the McCain camp for bringing up voter fraud because ACORN registers low-income citizens who usually vote for the democrat side. "The McCain camp has tried to suppress the lower income families for years and they believe this is the way they can succeed at it," Kolbert said at the press conference.

ACORN has claimed that they should not be blamed for voter fraud, it is not them who should be blamed for the fraud accusations but it should be the registration authority who should be blamed. ACORN also believes that the right wing media has fabricated everything on the voter fraud issue and they feel that the truth will be seen by November 4th.

ACORN target to season of mud-slinging

Accused of voting registration fraud and with 1.3 million new low-income and minority registered voters, ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is trying desperately not to lose credibility among the American voters with less than a month to election day. “The real issue that the secretaries of state were concerned about for years was the low levels of participation, this is the year we can break through that,” said Miles Rapoport, President of Demos, as he joined other voting experts at the National Press Club to discuss this elections voting registration issues.

According to Rapoport, allegations and fraud should be investigated and prosecuted if needed. “... The actual incident of [voting fraud] is so small, that to use it as an excuse to try to discourage people.. I think is a serious disservice to our democracy,” Rapoport said. He highlighted that the voting registration fraud issue should be taken seriously but not “blown out of proportion”.

According to Kevin Whelan, spokesman for ACORN, the organization took responsibility for the applications they suspected were invalid and incorrect also admitting it was unacceptably high amount of applications with problems.

As recent as in 2006, Sen. John McCain supported ACORN and the organizations efforts in registering new voters, now saying he instead oppose them. According to Reverend Gloria Swierenga, President, Maryland ACORN, the organization has been a target to a “season of mud-slinging” saying that they are fully aware of the possibility of errors in the voting process. “When we explain to people; this is how you can help build an America that is truly one nation... I think most people take that seriously. ”I think the Pailn-campaign speaks for itself,” Swierenga said.

ACORN poses "immediate concern" for McCain campaign

Co-chairs of the McCain-Palin Honest and Open Election Committee John Danforth and Warren Rudman said that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) posed an immediate concern for those hoping to have a fair and uncontested election.

Danforth outlined the allegations facing ACORN, including evidence the organization registered the same person 73 times, sent in the names of the Dallas Cowboys, and tried to register a seven-year-old.

"We say our safeguards are working...but we don't know how many are slipping through the cracks."

The co-chairs were unable to say if they knew how many may have been wrongly disqualified or how many have been disqualified for human error.

Danforth and Rudman said the Committee is looking for a bipartisan solution and that they have sent a letter to Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee Chair asking for help in rooting out voting fraud by posting volunteers from each campaign in polling places in battleground states to help oversee the election. According to Danforth, this request has gone unanswered for over a month.