Grasping Reality on TypePad, by Brad DeLong

The interesting thing about McDaniel, Cuccinelli, and Adams is that they are not only conducting a Rehnquist-style "ballot integrity" project, but think that it is good for them to call up the New York Times and tell the New York Times that they are conducting a "ballot integrity" project to try to reduce African-American votes in a Republican primary in Mississippi.

They think not only that it is to their advantage to do this, but that it is to their advantage to be broadly seen to be doing this...

This is waving the Neo-Confederate bloody shirt with a vengeance.

And, of course, the New York Times reporters do not ask them: "Why are you telling us this? How do you expect to benefit from the story we will write?"

This is journalism with a vengeance...

Josh Marshall comments:

Josh Marshall: Gonna Get Real Nasty: "We normally think about the 'vote fraud' bamboozle...

...and attempts to intimidate and disenfranchise African-American voters coming in contests between Democrats and Republicans. But here we have it within a GOP run-off. The McDaniel campaign and the standard gang of 'vote fraud'/voter suppression types are sending 'election observers' down to Mississippi to patrol heavily African-American precincts in Tuesday's run-off...

And the New York Times reports:

Conservatives Plan to Use Poll Watchers in Mississippi - NYTimes.com: Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, president of the Senate Conservatives Fund... backing Mr. Cochran’s Tea Party opponent, State Senator Chris McDaniel, said in an interview on Sunday that his group was joining with Freedom Works and the Tea Party Patriots in a “voter integrity project” in Mississippi. The groups will deploy observers in areas where Mr. Cochran is recruiting Democrats, Mr. Cuccinelli said. J. Christian Adams, a former Justice Department official and conservative commentator described the watchers as “election observers,” mostly Mississippi residents, who will be trained to “observe whether the law is being followed”...