Columnist: Was There Electoral Fraud in New Hampshire?

By: E&P Staff Bob Koehler, one of the few mainstream-media commentators to often discuss possibly tainted voting results, is addressing the issue once again in his column of today.

In most cases since 2000, Republicans have been the ones suspected of computer hacking, voter suppression, and the like. But Koehler's column addresses the results of Tuesday's Democratic primary in New Hampshire, where Hillary Rodham Clinton was a surprise winner over Barack Obama.

"Before we get too enthusiastic about feminist solidarity or wax knowingly about New Hampshire Democrats' traditional soft-heartedness toward the Clinton family," wrote Koehler, "let's ponder yet again the possibility of tainted results...."

The Tribune Media Services columnist continued: "Did the Hillary campaign really defy the pollsters? She had been trailing Barack Obama by 13 percentage points, 42 to 29, in a recent Zogby poll, as election watchdog Brad Friedman pointed out. And the weekend's 'rapturous packed rallies for Mr. Obama,' as The New York Times put it, 'suggested Mrs. Clinton was in dire shape.'

"So when she emerged from the Tuesday primary with an 8,000-vote and three-percentage-point victory over Obama, perhaps -- considering the notorious unreliability, not to mention hackability, of Diebold machines -- the media might have hoisted a few red flags in the coverage, rather than immediately chalk the results up to Clinton?s tears and voter unpredictability."

Koehler's full column can be seen here.