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"  There&amp;#039;s a lot of talk today regarding the front-page story in the New York Times about Republican efforts to keep libertarian candidate Gary Johnson off the ballot in various states in which his candidacy might make a difference, some of which are borderline thuggish, and all of which bespeak a fundamental insecurity on the part of the GOP.... Libertarians suspect it is why Republican state officials in Michigan blocked Mr. Johnson from the ballot after he filed proper paperwork three minutes after his filing deadline. And it is why Republicans in Pennsylvania hired a private detective to investigate his ballot drive in Philadelphia, appearing at the homes of paid canvassers and, in some cases, flashing an F.B.I. badge \u2014 he was a retired agent \u2014 while asking to review the petitions they gathered at $1 a signature, according to testimony in the case and interviews. This, by the way, is why allowing the various ballot suppression vigilantes around the country to operate under the radar is a terrible idea. Sooner or later, they come after everyone. It&amp;#039;s also why everyone should be behind Rep. Elijah Cummings&amp;#039;s effort to investigate the biggest and most noxious of them. (And let the whinging begin [!]: &amp;quot;Election integrity is a serious concern across the nation \u2014 the state of Maryland is no exception. In this year alone, as reported by The Washington Post, a federal congressional candidate seeking to join Maryland&amp;#039;s Congressional Delegation was forced to resign from her race by Democratic Party officials after alleged felony double voting was uncovered in her voting history. This week, True The Vote turned over 99 similar cases to authorities in New York, Ohio, Florida and Rhode Island.&amp;quot; One candidate. And 99 &amp;quot;similar cases&amp;quot; divided between four states in which people cast over 22 million votes total in the 2008 presidential election. I am dazzled. Truly.) The Pennsylvania Republicans \u2014 one of whom memorably got caught explaining that the new voter-ID law would deliver the state to Willard Romney \u2014 are not apologetic, either. But Robert Gleason, the Pennsylvania Republican Party chairman, vowing that the state will become far more competitive for Mr. Romney than Democrats realize, said he was not about to give Mr. Johnson an easy opening to play a Nader to Mr. Romney&amp;#039;s Gore in Pennsylvania this year. &amp;quot;This election will be close \u2014 if you remember, Bush lost by only something like 143,000 votes in 2004,&amp;quot; said Mr. Gleason, noting that his party has managed to disqualify tens of thousands of Libertarian signatures. &amp;quot;So we play the game hard here.&amp;quot; If I recall correctly, the Democrats worked hard to keep Ralph Nader off various state ballots in 2004, remembering vividly what had happened four years earlier. (Thanks again, Ralph.) But I don&amp;#039;t recall reports of Democratic private dicks flashing FBI badges in the effort. The two parties are, well, different that way. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a16274/gary-johnson-ballot-access-13747430/>