OBAMA CAMP SEEKS SPECIAL PROSECUTOR ON ACORN

Obama Camp Seeks Special Prosecutor on Acorn Inquiries

By Michael Falcone

Seeking to portray law enforcement investigations into reports of fraudulent voter registrations in several states as an extension of the controversial firings of United States attorneys, the Obama campaign on Friday called for a review by a special prosecutor.

Bob Bauer, general counsel for the Obama campaign, sent a letter to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and Special Prosecutor Nora R. Dannehy, who is investigating the attorney firings, requesting that Ms. Dannehy also look into the whether F.B.I. investigations of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn, were politically motivated.

In a conference call with reporters on Friday, Mr. Bauer suggested that there was “an unholy alliance of law enforcement and the ugliest form of partisan politics.”

“There is ample reason for us to be concerned about Republican involvement and we believe this ought to be included in the special prosecutor’s mandate,” Mr. Bauer said.

Mr. Bauer spoke to reporters after the McCain campaign manager Rick Davis stepped up his attacks on Acorn on Friday, saying that reports of fraudulent voter registrations cast a “cloud of suspicion,” over the election.

In his letter, Mr. Bauer wrote:

I request that Special Prosecutor Dannehy’s inquiry include a review of any involvement by Justice Department and White House officials in supporting the McCain-Palin campaign and the Republican National Committee (“RNC”)’s systematic development and dissemination of unsupported, spurious allegations of vote fraud. It is highly likely that the very sort of politically motivated conduct identified in the Department’s investigation to date, necessitating the appointment of a Special Prosecutor, is repeating itself, and for the same reason: unwarranted and politically motivated intervention in the upcoming election. An investigation must be entrusted to government officials who do not have an improper political motivation or a conflict of interest, either in fact or appearance.

Privately law enforcement officials have said that the F.B.I. inquiries in several states into the fraudulent voter registration cards did not amount to a national investigation. Just today, another lawsuit was filed in Pennsylvania.

A spokesman for the McCain campaign, Ben Porritt, responded to the Obama team’s letter by saying that it represented an attempt to “criminalize political discourse.”

“Today’s outrageous letter to Attorney General Mukasey and Special Prosecutor Dannehy at the Justice Department asking for a special prosecutor to investigate Senator McCain and Governor Palin’s public statements about ACORN’s record of fraudulent voter registrations (including in this week’s Presidential debate) is absurd,” Mr. Porritt said in a statment. “It is a typical time-worn Washington attempt to criminalize political differences.”