The only thing that is keeping Republicans in power is that Democrats offer no viable alternative. Well and their own inability to lead as conservatives. John Kerry is using the first page of the Democratic playbook to accuse Republicans of…wait for it, voter intimidation and suppression.

An e-mail from Kerry will be sent to 100,000 Democratic donors Tuesday asking them to support U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland for governor of Ohio. The bulk of the e-mail criticizes Strickland’s opponent, GOP Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, for his dual role in 2004 as President Bush’s honorary Ohio campaign co-chairman and the state’s top election official.

“He used the power of his state office to try to intimidate Ohioans and suppress the Democratic vote,” Kerry says in the e-mail, according to a copy provided in advance.

Kerry, D-Massachusetts, conceded the election when he lost Ohio and its 20 electoral votes. A recount requested by minor-party candidates showed Bush won by about 118,000 votes out of 5.5 million cast. But Kerry’s e-mail says Blackwell “used his office to abuse our democracy and threaten basic voting rights.”

Is there any merit to the allegation?

Multiple lawsuits by outside groups were unsuccessful in challenging Ohio’s 2004 election. One case filed by the League of Women Voters is still in U.S. District Court in Toledo. It claims Ohio’s election system discriminates against minority voters.

OK so Democrats claim that Ken Blackwell, who happens to be black, intimidated black voters despite record turnout of black voters. This same tired argument is pathetic. Sadly Republicans in Washington are so inept at governing as conservatives that Democrats actually have a chance to take back the majority in Congress. What a shame.

UPDATE! William makes a great point in the comments.

The real response to these charges lies with William Anthony. Anthony is the Chairman of the Ohio Franklin County Democratic Party (as you might recall, Howard “The Scream” Dean cited Franklin County as one of the prime areas of supposed discrimination) and the Franklin County Elections Board (Dem hypocrisy alert: they decry Blackwell’s involvement with the Bush campaign but overlook Anthony’s chairmanship of the Dem Party in Franklin County).

Anthony testified before . He had this to say:

“Yes, Mr. Chairman, there were long lines to vote in Franklin County – in all of Franklin County. Some have alleged Republicans at the Board of Elections or Matt Damschroder himself intentionally caused these lines and that those precincts in predominantly African-American and-or Democrat precincts were deliberately targeted for a reduction in voting machines. I can assure you Mr. Chairman, both as a leader in the black community, Chairman of the local Democratic Party, and as Chairman of the Board of Elections that not one of these accusations are true. On Election Day, I spent several hours driving around the county in the rain and observed long lines in every part of the county: urban and suburban neighborhoods, black and white communities, Democrat and Republican precincts. These lines were the result of three things and these three things only. First, nearly one hundred thousand more people voted on Election Day 2004 than during 2000 – this is almost a 25% percent increase over the previous presidential election.”

Dems care about minorities only when they parrot their talking points, but when minorities like William Anthony speaks the truth, they ignore them.

Truth is relative (sarcasm intended).