Walloon asks:
Change “whatever was necessary” to “whatever was legally plausible” and yep, pretty much. Secretaries of State are wannabe Governors and need to move up in the ranks of their party. And heck, the free publicity in the news over the contraversy is just gravy, and is free, to boot.
I’m not quite so cynical. Before the 2000 election, I don’t recall accusations being leveled against any secretaries of state for trying to hurt the chances of a presidential candidate of a different party. I’m sure it happened, somewhere and sometime, I just don’t remember it being an issue. It really wasn’t until Katherine Harris in Florida and Ken Blackwell in Ohio found themselves in the headlines that the job’s potential for partisan mischief became clear to most people.
We have a new Democratic SecState here in Ohio, BTW, Jennifer Brunner, a former judge who is purposefully trying to be nonpartisan and above reproach in her administration of the office. Makes for quite a refreshing change - hope she’ll keep it up.