1 Boring Old Man

• caging: The caging process involves obtaining a list of registered voters [that you don’t want to vote]. They are then sent registered letters. The returned letters are used as evidence that that voter doesn’t exist in an attempt to have them removed from the voting roster [they could’ve refused to sign, or be a soldier stationed in Iraq, or someone on vacation, etc.]. This is what happened in Ohio and Florida [it may be what Tim Griffin did].
• microtargeting: Microtargeting is a process of identifying subpopulations in precincts, for example potential Republican voters [rich or religious] in an otherwise Democratic District – and sending them specific mailings. Obviously, microtargeting could mean identification of specific groups for other activities [like caging]. [This is what Sara Taylor did].
• voter fraud: This term has a new, upside down meaning. It means to prosecute cases of voter fraud as a way of intimidating voters. Currently, the Republicans are accusing Democrats of widespread voter fraud, and on a tear to prosecute. Studies looking into this have reported negligable voter fraud. It’s at the center of the U.S. Attorney firing scandal [purgegate]. Remember Schlozman?.

I obviously know very little about such things – techniques, apparently widely applied to manipulate the vote. It’s murky what happened in Florida in 2000 or Ohio in 2004, but apparently there was wide use of voter technology [my term]. My point is that it’s increasingly clear that whatever this is about, it’s a big deal. At least three of the people with names now on the tips of our tongues – Monica Goodling, Sara Taylor, and Tim Griffin – are proteges of Mr. Rove in this technology, carrying on the tradition of the Young Republicans like Lee Atwater, Donald Segretti, Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed, and Karl Rove – the pioneers.

It’s the "dirty tricks" school of political electioneering along with dicrediting candidates, sending out false mailings, phone jamming, bogus polls, etc. It’s almost become conversational to use the term "Rovian" for this kind of politics. The U.S. Attorney Affair has plunged us into the center of this soup. It’s still not completely clear what the strategy was [is], but there’s no question at all that all this business with politicizing the DoJ was, at least, in part, to further the Republican voter technology schemes.