Big Donor, Small Donor. [Eschaton]

What is interesting is that Dean has raised about $12 million in less than $200 doses. Bush's take at this level is about $9 million. Once some of the other candidates fall away, Dean should start getting more of the big donor numbers (like the unions) and really pull away from the others. It is just amazing that over 50% of Dean's $25 million have been from small donations. Talk about grass roots.  12:25:26 AM    

Diebold and Politics. Melanie Warner/NYTimes report on Machine Politics in the Digital Age, about Walden W. O'Dell, the chief executive of Diebold Inc., who: sat down at his computer to compose a letter inviting 100 wealthy and politically inclined friends to a Republican Party fund-raiser, to be held at his home in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. "I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year," wrote Mr. O'Dell, whose company is... [bIPlog]

Derek Slater, Harvard and Diebold. ...in the Crimson. Derek posted the Diebold memos on his Harvard account website, wrote about it on his blog, and received a C&D on October 31, 2003. Harvard rules say he gets two chances for copyright violation, before he loses his account. Diebold served the C&D under the DMCA rules, maintaining that the memos are copyright protected, and Harvard responded by disabling the documents. Derek: [base "]These documents are potentially important to our democracy and the... [bIPlog]

Two good links that should make you very afraid for democracy in a digital world. Those that control the voting booths control the government. The documents that reveal some of Diebold's problems are the same ones that they claim are copyrighted. And they have a president who is determined to get Ohio for a particular party. No paper trails. Little ability to audit. Security problems. Are we going to need to have Jimmy Carter around to verify our next election? What happens in a democracy when you can no longer believe the polling numbers?  12:19:27 AM