Clinton diary and it is still on the Rec List.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/4/29/1845 20/166

Paul Krugman: Barack Obama is right on gas tax holiday.
by TomP, Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 06:45:20 PM EST

Full statement from this group at issue in your diary below.

I have no idea what they are or were doing, but I see the spin today by Obama supporters.  Some folks want it to be bad and want to tie it to Clinton.  Especially after all the Rev. Wright stuff.  

This part was interesting:

Bryant (Ethel Bryant, Edgecombe County Board of Elections) agreed the method seems to be working. "They send out the voter's applications in a pre-packaged envelope with postage paid," she said. "Many are female and from rural areas, where it is harder to run out and get a stamp to post a letter. Since it doesn't need a stamp, they are able to drop it right in the mail."

"Voter Registration Cards Pour In," The Daily Southerner, February 29, 2008

"This is, by far, the largest we've seen," Johnnie Mclean (deputy director of the State Board of Elections)said. One reason for the state's uptick are prefilled voter registration applications from a Washington-based voting advocacy (WVWV) group that were mailed to thousands of private mailboxes in North Carolina. Recipients can verify their information and mail the cards to the state elections office.

"Young Voters: Sign Us Up", Greensboro News-Record, March 9, 2008

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0 408/Womens_Voices_apologizes.html

Statement of Page Gardner, President, Women's Voices, Women Vote.

"This week, more than 276,000 North Carolina residents received a voter registration application from Women's Voices, Women Vote. North Carolina is one of 24 states where we mailed a total of more than 3 million voter registration applications.

"In addition to the mailing, calls were made to mail recipients for whom we have working phone numbers to alert the household they would be receiving a voter registration form and encouraging them to register to vote. In advance of the mail, a letter was sent and calls were made to Gary Bartlett in the North Carolina Board of Elections Office notifying them of the intent and content of our mailing effort. A copy of the letter and a press release sent to North Carolina media announcing the registration effort is attached.

"We understand concerns have been raised about the source of phone calls placed by Women's Voices, Women Vote. These calls were our sincere attempt to encourage voter registration for those not registered for the general election this fall. We understand North Carolina's primary registration effort deadline was April 11, (other than those participating in early voting who may register and vote at the same time this week). We apologize for any confusion our calls may have caused. Our intent and purpose was solely to call attention to the registration applications we hope will be completed and returned to the Board of Elections office making thousands more North Carolinians participants in one of the most important elections of our lifetimes.

Women's Voices. Women Vote has been in contact with the North Carolina State Board of Elections to work together to resolve any confusion regarding our voter registration efforts. Women's Voices. Women vote is also working with its mail vendor and postal officials in North Carolina in an attempt to delay the delivery of the voter registration applications until after the primary.

"Women's Voices. Women Vote is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to bringing the voices of unmarried women to our democracy. Our goal in this election cycle is to register 1 million of these women on their own, in turn helping to bring their concerns regarding making affordable health care, equal pay for equal work and a brighter future for themselves and the lives of their families, to the forefront of the election this fall.

"Already this cycle, our voter registration efforts have generated more than 26,600 registration applications in North Carolina. Women's Voices. Women Vote first registered voters in North Carolina in 2004. Nationally, Women's Voices Women Vote registered over 100,000 new voters in both 2004 and 2006. Since July of 2007, almost 400,000 additional individuals have returned our applications in anticipation of participating in the 2008 general election.

Bryant (Ethel Bryant, Edgecombe County Board of Elections) agreed the method seems to be working. "They send out the voter's applications in a pre-packaged envelope with postage paid," she said. "Many are female and from rural areas, where it is harder to run out and get a stamp to post a letter. Since it doesn't need a stamp, they are able to drop it right in the mail."

"Voter Registration Cards Pour In," The Daily Southerner, February 29, 2008

"This is, by far, the largest we've seen," Johnnie Mclean (deputy director of the State Board of Elections)said. One reason for the state's uptick are prefilled voter registration applications from a Washington-based voting advocacy (WVWV) group that were mailed to thousands of private mailboxes in North Carolina. Recipients can verify their information and mail the cards to the state elections office.

"Young Voters: Sign Us Up", Greensboro News-Record, March 9, 2008

Do facts matter, though?  Zealotry seems to be all that matters on both sides.

Many will pick out facts to support your preconceived notions.  Any truth becomes irrelevant in the zeal to attack the opponent and glorify the chosen candidate. Many in the netroots stand revealed as just likw dittoheads.

And so it goes.

I am not yet convinced that this was coordinated with any campaign.  Regardless, it's still bad.

Um, calling in the middle of the primaries and not specifying in the calls that this program is for the general election are good reasons why "some people ... are thinking the group is focusing on the primaries rather than the GE".

Unfortunately, there is a difference between WVWV's stated purpose and what they are actually doing.  Between using a male voice, not identifying themselves, and calling after the registration deadline in the primary but before the vote in multiple states it strains credulity to say they were merely incompetent at carrying out their mission.

They are breaking the law.  They are calling with blocked numbers and they don't properly identify themselves in the call.  This is illegal, and a pretty solid indication that they are intentionally trying to suppress voter turnout.

... Class I Felony?

Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.  I'm having a real hard time determing which is the case here.

How can you register someone to vote, if you call registered voters after the registration deadline is over, and tell them that if they want to vote, they need to wait for a registration packet?

These people say that their purpose is to register people to vote, but they've had complaints against them in 11 states now.

The title implied Clinton is backing something that is directed toward hurting the black vote.  That is implying racism.  

and i suppose that you would like to ignore the efforts of the WVWV, which has repeatedly given bad information to 100s of thousands of potential voters in multiple states.

please see this link, where the story broke: http://www.southernstudies.org/facingsou th/

It has already become the gospel truth in Obama-supporting quarters that this was an attempt to suppress the black vote.  No one is even interested in looking for evidence.

The sole evidence for introducing a racial element into the story is the statement by Democracy North Carolina that calls went to "black neighborhoods."  There does not appear to be any evidence that the calls went exclusively to black neighborhoods, or even disproportionately.  Reality-based progressives should be interested in getting to the bottom of this, but I guess it's easier just to assume the conclusion.

Accusing someone of disenfranchising black voters is an extremely incendiary allegation in this country.  It's not something that should be recklessly thrown around in a diary title.

Which is typical.

You were looking for some mud and decided to call Hillary a racist.  

I commented on the "feigned outrage" and "character assassination" part of his comment. HRC and her supporters did the exact same thing. Obama's bitter comments, though worded poorly, were not that big of a deal. Instead HRC and her supporters took the thrust of his point out of context and "feigned outrage" saying it was a fatal gaffe and such a despicable thing to say and proceeded to call Obama an elitist, aloof and out of touch with Americans (character assassination) when he is clearly not. That is what I am alleging was exactly the same.  

If the calls are "incompetent", then WVWV will be able to produce a man named Lamont Williams.  If there is no Lamont Williams, then the calls were malevolent, since the caller would then have given a false name.

If the calls are "incompetent", why is this the 11th state that they've been incompetent in the same way?

And why would an organization headed up by Clinton pollster Joe Goode, with Clintonite John Podesta on its board, with Maggie Williams on its board until recently, be so incompetent?

It's a Clintonite organization, even though it is formally independent.

Because they'd be told was too late for them to do anything about it, even if it were true.

At best, this is horribly sloppy work.  At worst ...

Voter suppression? LOL - I read the story. I didn't any evidence of voter suppression and neither did you.

Go ahead - show us one example of the vote being suppressed because of this premier progressive organization. Not an open ended accusation, but an actual instance.