After doing some research and general digging concerning background info on some of the key field operatives and organizations supporting the GOP effort this year, I've come to the conclusion that it's just all so damn UGLY--the more I read the worse it gets--I'm to the point where I don't know where to begin.

Yesterday, I blogged about "2008's Grand Masters Of GOP Dirty Tricks," (there's a link from today's "Saturday Morning Diary Rescue," currently on the front page, here; so that diary's old news, as it were; but, in advance, I ask your forgiveness for any unintended appearance of diary pimping; my sincere goal here is to get some specific realities up on everyone's radar now, in preparation for what lies ahead)  and today I wanted to drill a little deeper on that theme with regard to my concerns about planned and/or potential Republican "caging," voter suppression and any overall, generally racist efforts that we will most likely see supported by those camps in coming weeks and months.

For now, I'd like to focus on the McCain campaign in the always-critical states of Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Specifically, I'd like to zero in on the two or three people that have been put in place by the McCain operation to head those three states' efforts for the GE.

Frankly, I think the facts, regarding the histories of the folks involved here pretty much speaks for itself. The dots appear to  be connected already, so to speak; and it is not good. (SEE BELOW.)

I make specific reference in this diary's opening paragraphs to:

a.) caging,

b.) voter suppression, and,

c.) general racism.

I. Concerns about potential CAGING in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

For those of you unfamiliary with the term, "caging,"here's a few blurbs from eplurbismedia.org:

 "Caging" is a method of voter suppression in which first-class mail is sent to registered voters to confirm their addresses. If the letter is returned to the sender, the name and address on the returned mail is entered into a database known as "caging list." A document, "State Implementation Template III.doc," last saved by Christopher Guith, attorney and Bush-Cheney2004 campaign official, provides a template of plans for challenging voters at the polls based on caging.

II. Precinct Identification Method

Every precinct/ward in the state that had 60% or more votes for Gore in 2000 AND every precinct/ward that had 60% or more votes for Bush should be identified as target precincts.

V. Pre-Election Day Operations - New Registration Mailing

At whatever point registration in the state closes, a first-class mailing should be sent to all new registrants as well as purged/inactive voters. This mailing should welcome the recipient to the voter rolls. It is important that a return address is clearly identifiable. Any mail returned as undeliverable for any reason, should be used to generate a list of problematic registrations. Poll watchers should have this list and be prepared to challenge anyone from this list attempting to vote.
Public emails at GeorgeWBush.org

In total, there are 129 emails with 57 attachments. Of these attachments, 38 are spreadsheets. Two of the files, "Caging.xls" and "Caging-1.xls", contain 1834 names, with all 1771 names in "Caging.xls" contained in "Caging-1.xls". One attachment, "Lakeland FTM JAX Melbourne POTUS rallies1.xls", contains 178 names from all over Florida and is apparently a list that pertains to a rally featuring President George W. Bush. It cannot be reasonably considered a "caging list". more ...

Non-Public emails at GeorgeWBush.org

In addition to the 129 publicly available emails, there are 489 emails not released to the public. In the private files, there are 232 attachments, including 35 spreadsheets. more ...

Contents of excel file downloads from GeorgeWBush.org

This attachment was included in an email (found in a cache of emails accidentally addressed to GeorgeWBush.org and provided to ePluribus Media by John A. Wooden, owner of that domain name) sent by Mike Sheridan, Political Director of the Washington State Republican Party. It was copied to the Executive Director of the Washington State Bush-Cheney campaign, Jon Seaton. Given Guith's position in the Bush 2004 campaign and his collaboration with Griffin and other RNC staff in emails discovered in the Ohio caging case, this document offers strong evidence that the Bush-Cheney campaign, and possibly the RNC, were designing, directing and advocating the plan of using caging lists for the purpose of voter suppression. ePluribus Media contacted Mr. Guith for comment, but has received no response.

What makes this boxed blockquote so pertinent to this diary is the information in the last paragraph of it. Jon Seaton, the intended recipient of this email, is the recently-announced McCain Campaign director for both Ohio and Pennsylvania. (See the link from the third paragraph of this diary for more info on this.)

II. Concerns about potential GOP VOTER SUPPRESSION in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio; and everywhere else.

Voter suppression takes on many shapes and sizes. There are all sorts of voter-suppression tactics.

Caging, discussed immediately above, is certainly a form of voter suppression. It would appear that Mr. Seaton, Senator McCain's GE campaign manager in Ohio and Pennsylvania, is somewhat of an expert on these tactics now.

Robo-calling--especially the implementation of a highly sophisticated robo-calling effort--is another proven and effective medium for the implementation of voter suppression activities, as well.

I covered this extensively in yesterday's diary (see link at the top of this diary), as it related to Jamestown Associates' culture, in general, and their current activities as the "agency of record" on behalf of the 501(c)4 group, "Freedom's Watch"--Jamestown-produced robocall campaigns are in place and being run against 22 Democratic incumbent members of Congress (this weekend) as I speak.

So, I just wanted to bring to everyone's attention another "fun-fact" from Jonathan Martin's Politico diary from about 10 days ago, and it's the reality that the McCain campaign, in that same release, also announced the hiring of former Jamestown Associates' consultant, Al Ribeiro, to run their Michigan efforts.

III. Concerns about intensively-charged and RACIST CAMPAIGN PRACTICES about to be implemented by the GOP in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio; and everywhere else.

Based upon the experience of the folks they're already putting in place for their general election effort in the Fall--at least in the key states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio--it certainly appears to this diarist that the McCain campaign is putting key players in place  with the skillsets necessary to mount a highly racist and ugly campaign of epic proportions.

A reasonable conclusion?

At the end of the day, common sense would dictate that one doesn't hire a plumber if they think they need an appendectomy.