Check out this list of states:
Arkansas: 9.76%
Arizona: 10.47%
California: 9.95%
New Mexico: 0.79%
Nevada: 2.59%
Michigan: 3.42%
Washington: 7.18%
The number following each state is the presidential voting margin in 2004. All of them are around 10% or less, in some cases a lot less. So the first-cut answer to the question posted in the title is that all of these states are swing states, or something like it.
But take a look at this list as well:
Arkansas: Bud Cummins
Arizona: Paul Charlton
California: Carol Lam
New Mexico: David Iglesias
Nevada: Daniel Bogden
Michigan: Margaret Chiara
Washington: John McKay
I’m sure many of these names ring a bell. They’re all former US Attorneys who were fired for their refusal to subvert justice in the name of loyalty to the Bush administration. And funny enough, they all ran US Attorneys offices in swing states.
Now, correlation does not prove causation. But when it comes to the Bushies, you can put nothing past them. And we do know that one of the reasons John McKay was fired was because he wouldn’t pursue bogus allegations of voter fraud after the very close gubernatorial race in Washington state in 2004. So I could very easily believe that Bushco wanted loyalists in these states in particular so that the GOP could maintain their necessary fiction that Democrats are purveyors of rampant voter fraud.
Fortunately, with aggressive oversight, we can at least hope that the new lackeys Dick Cheney has installed will be scrutinized like hawks, especially when when get close to election day. I know I’ll be watching.
UPDATE: Others have made a similar observation on this correlation. (Hat tip to mcjoan.)
Either that or you’d better be explaining what the hell you were thinking supporting a primary against a Senator in a swing state last year.
24 closest states in 2004:
WI 0.38%
IA 0.67%
NM 0.79%*
NH 1.37%
OH 2.11%
PA 2.50%
NV 2.59%*
MI 3.42%*
MN 3.48%
OR 4.16%
CO 4.68%
FL 5.01%
————– (States not heavily contested in 2004)
NJ 6.69%
WA 7.18%*
MO 7.20%
DE 7.59%
VA 8.21%
HI 8.75%
ME 9.00%
AR 9.76% *
CA 9.95% *
IL: 10.34%
CT: 10.36%
AZ: 10.47% *
In Wisconsin the GOP was absolutely desperate to pin voter fraud charges on Democrats, especially in the black areas of Milwaukee.
GOP shill Stephen Biskupic is the Attorney in question in Wisconsin. His brother Vince was defeated by progressive Democrat Peg Lautenschlager in 2002 running for Attorney General and his brother was eviscerated with charges that justice was for sale. He allowed rich defendents to donate money to a fund he was associated with and in exchange he gave GOP financial players fines and probation rather than prison terms.
Meanwhile Republicans in Wisconsin were complaining that Stephen Biskupic was not persuing aggressively enough election fraud complaints here in Wisconsin. Though, surprise, surprise, none of them are owning up to it now.
It should be noted that other than Rep. Gwen Moore’s son and 3 buddies being convicted for slashing the tires of vehicles that were to be used to ferry GOP voters to the polls on election day, nothing the GOP ever claimed was substantiated. It was all smoke screen and spin to portray the Doyle adminiatration as corrupt because the GOP cannot win a fair fight on the issues anymore in Wisconsin.
Here is a link to the story from Madison’s GOP newspaper the Wisconsin State Journal: http://www.madison.c…
here is a linked story on how the BUSH White House has politicized the Justice department.
http://rawstory.com/…
The D.C. Political 27 March 2007 is reporting developments in Washington state indicate the reason US Attorney John McKay was fired by the Bush White House was because he refused to bring voting fraud charges against Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire’s campaign in connection with her razor thin victory margin in 2004.
“McKay claims that White House Counsel Harriet Miers and her Deputy William Kelley asked him why Washington Republicans would be mad at him.”