Sep.06

electoral-vote.com

Dem 49

   

GOP 51

Paging Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Flyers

We had letters this past Sunday and the Sunday before that about mysterious pro-Republican mailings that some North Carolina readers, who are well-established as Democrats, have been getting in the past few weeks.

It turns out that our readers are not the only ones who have noticed this. Over at TalkingPointsMemo, Josh Marshall just had a piece about it. He doesn't have any answers either, but he was able to add the following clues to the investigation:

• It's not just North Carolina. It's all the swing states, though it appears to be particularly concentrated in the Tar Heel State, along with Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia.
  
  
• The mailers officially come from the various state parties (e.g., North Carolina Republican Party, Republican Party of Pennsylvania, etc.). However, it is unlikely they are the origin, if for no other reason than state parties don't have the money to waste tilting at windmills. Per federal law, state parties get much lower bulk mail rates than any other PAC or PAC-like entity. So, what's probably happening is that some mysterious entity is providing the fliers to the state parties, and is writing a check to cover the (discounted) mailing costs.
  
  
• It does not appear to be accidental. There are too many flyers, and Democrats are getting them in all states. This is not just one wonky contacts list.

So, that clarifies the picture some... but only some. The two big questions that remain: (1) Who is behind this? and (2) Is there method to the madness, or is someone really operating under the understanding that mountains of junk mail can move the needle? We hope that, one day, the answers to these questions become known. (Z)