Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:<\/p>\n
* A very<\/i> disconcerting report<\/a> by Voter Action, VotersUnite.Org and VoteTrustUSA highlights how “electronic voting machines meant to streamline the Election Day process have resulted in late poll openings, data-retrieval errors and widespread machine failures…. The evidence presented indicates that electronic voting in its current form is systematically flawed and will require significant corrective measures to remedy the problems that have been exposed.”<\/p>\n * After Rudy Giuliani’s lost playbook became fairly big political news yesterday, the former mayor’s campaign aides pushed back<\/a> by calling the leak a “dirty trick” and exploring who might have been responsible. Apparently, suspicion is focusing on aides close to new Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R).<\/p>\n * It’s a very convoluted story, with a series of bizarre twists, but to make a long story short, State Rep. Dennis O’Brien (R) was elected Speaker of Pennsylvania’s House yesterday after a “stealthy maneuver<\/a>” orchestrated by chamber Dems. The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that this “marks the first time in modern Pennsylvania history — and perhaps in centuries — in which a member of the minority party will wield the state speaker’s gavel.”<\/p>\n