After months of advising his listeners to vote for Hillary Clinton in open Democratic primaries, ultra-conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is changing his tune by urging Democratic superdelegates to force the issue and make Barack Obama their nominee. From CNN:

"I now believe he would be the weakest of the Democrat nominees," Limbaugh, among the most powerful voices in conservative radio, said on his program. "I now urge the Democrat superdelegates to make your mind up and publicly go for Obama."

"Barack Obama has shown he cannot get the votes Democrats need to win -- blue-collar, working-class people," Limbaugh said. "He can get effete snobs, he can get wealthy academics, he can get the young, and he can get the black vote, but Democrats do not win with that."

But Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist and Obama supporter, disagreed, saying the Democratic Party has "the best coalition to go out and talk to people across racial lines, which are the unions."

Limbaugh's plan to interfere in the Democratic Primary process, dubbed "Operation Chaos," was given legitimacy yesterday when Obama supporter John Kerry attributed Hillary Clinton's victory in Indiana to the gabber's tactic. What is behind this reversal? Is Rush being sincere? Is he mad at Bill Clinton for "hitting on" his "date?" Or is it all some kind of triple-reverse psychology?

As I reported here last week, Rush Limbaugh has instituted something called "Operation Chaos," wherein he urges Dittoheads (a pet name Limbaugh uses for his fans) to vote for Hillary Clinton in open Democratic Primaries in order to prolong the party's nominating process. Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton sent this out last night via email:

According to the latest exit polling data, 17% of voters in the Indiana primary today said they would vote for John McCain in a Clinton/McCain matchup.

41% of that number is constituted by people who voted Clinton in the primary but also indicated they will vote for McCain in the general election.

That comes out to just under 7% of the primary electorate the number that may be attributed to a "Limbaugh Effect."

I checked it with a calculator and everything. On today's Obama campaign conference call, Senator John Kerry brought it up, too:

If it hadn't been for republicans taking democratic ballots, he likely would have won Indiana. Rush Limbaugh was tampering with the primary and the GOP has clearly delcared that they want Hillary Clinton as a candidate.

With only a 2 point margin in Indiana, it makes sense for the Obama campaign to point this out, but it begs the question of whether or not they are legitimizing Limbaugh's tactic. I contacted both campaigns for this story, but, as yet, have not received a response.

Yesterday, on Rush Limbaugh's radio show, the self-described Commander-in-Chief, US, Operation Chaos, issued new orders to his army of Dittoheads:

Ladies and gentlemen, I am calling an operational pause in Operation Chaos. We have a week to figure out now what's best to do...My gut reaction here, after hearing Obama, was to issue orders changing directives, i.e., vote Obama in remaining primaries. But I'm holding back.

He went on to explain that he wants to see how the mainstream media covered Barack Obama's reaction to the Reverend Jeremiah Wright's fresh gems from the National Press Club meeting.

Still, coming as it does on the heels of the commencement of Operation RonDemption, the plan to give Ron Paul a state primary victory while damaging John McCain's campaign, one has to wonder if the Dittoheads are quaking in the face of the combined might of the Ron Paul Revolution and Idaho Democrats Who Didn't Caucus.

Being a liberal, I'm more comfortable with Head of the Operation RonDemption Steering Committee, and I have some new plans, too. After the jump, a little more on both "Operations," and Limbaugh's assessment of the Democratic race.

Rush Limbaugh is at it again, trying to wreak havoc on the Democratic Primary race. From Buzzfeed:

Rush Limbaugh urges his conservative fans to vote for Hillary so that neither Democrat can win the primaries. In Limbaugh's own words: "The endgame is to see that neither of these candidates can win by virtue of the primaries" assuring that Hillary and Barack "will be so bloodied and brought down to earth that neither can win in the general." A few outside observers think that Operation Chaos is actually working while others are skeptical. Of course, Rush is happy to take full credit for the current Obama Clinton fatigue.

Unfortunately, Rush Limbaugh has met his match. Welcome to "Tommy Christopher's Operation RonDemption."

The plan is simple. Any Democrats or Independents who didn't vote in February's Idaho Democratic Caucuses are eligible to vote in the Republican Primary on 5/27/08. Idaho is one of only a few open nominating contests left.

It wouldn't take much for the Democrats, aided by the Ron Paul Army, to put a serious dent in John McCain, especially considering the low turnout for the Dem caucus. Since the GOP already has its nominee, their turnout should be low, too, inflating the percentage of Paul votes. Who knows, maybe Dr. Paul can deal McCain a defeat. Just forward and post this link wherever you can, especially to people in Idaho. Let's see how the Paul-ites do against the Dittoheads.

Three out of the four members of Cuyahoga County Board of Elections decided not to engage in an expensive, time consuming and doubtful investigation (Cuyahoga is Cleveland, Ohio). This all started when it became obvious that quite a few Republicans decided to become Democrats for a day. The day of the Ohio primary. Add in Rush's operation chaos, and one of the BOE members wanted to go hammer and tongs:

Democratic board member Sandy McNair, who initiated the investigation, asked the board at Monday's meeting to subpoena a Westlake Republican who wrote "Today Only" on his pledge card when he took a Democratic ballot. The three other board members, two Republicans and a Democrat, said they didn't want to force public testimony from the voter.

Voters who switch parties in Ohio primaries must sign affidavits pledging allegiance to their new party. Lying on the forms is a fifth-degree felony punishable by six to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.

"We have so many other things we need to focus on," said Inajo Davis Chappell, the board's other Democrat. "I don't want to second-guess voters."

And that's that. Doubtless the other three were thinking ahead to where this could possibly lead. An enterprising defense lawyer could merely point out that the Ohio statute doesn't require any particular length of time that the "allegiance" should last. Did the crossovers violate the spirit of the law? Yes, maybe, probably. But prosecuting your own voters is a tough call. I'm not surprised by this at all. I am only surprised it got this far.

I never doubted it, but now I have a little more backup, via the Columbus Dispatch:

"We have no intention of prosecuting Rush Limbaugh because lying through your teeth and being stupid isn't a crime," said Leo Jennings, a spokesman for Democratic Attorney General Marc Dann.

When asked whether she has concerns about what Limbaugh did, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, replied, "I think it's very bad form, but I think most voters are intelligent enough to make their own decisions."

I wonder what Mr. Jennings thinks about lefty blogger Markos of DailyKos, who was running his own little Operation Chaos back in January.

Now here's the thing -- without a real Democratic contest on the ballot, and a lack of party registration in Michigan, this is an open primary. Anyone can pick up a Republican ballot. So Michigan Democrats and independents who want to see the Republican battle royale continue should just take a few minutes on Tuesday, January 15th to cast a ballot for Mitt Romney in the Republican primary.

If you know someone in Michigan, send them the email I've included below the fold. If you don't know someone in Michigan, send the email to your liberal friends and see if THEY have friends in Michigan. Get the word out, whether by blog, mailing list, MySpace or Facebook page, or whatever.

If this is a crime, Rush would be far from the only one in trouble.

There was a rush of voters to register to vote in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary. The Associated Press reports:

Democratic Party enrollment surged past the 4 million mark Monday, setting a state record on the last day Pennsylvanians could register to vote in next month's presidential primary.

The figures, which showed modest declines in the ranks of Republicans and independents, reflected intense interest in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and recruitment efforts by both candidates, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois.

Since last year's election, which featured races for judicial and municipal offices, the number of Democrats increased by more than 161,000, to at least 4,044,952. No political party in the state had previously reached the 4 million threshold.

An election official in Delaware County told the Philadelphia Inquirer:

I don't remember a primary ever being like this. I've seen a lot of excitement.

That's an understatement. One Republican high-tailed it back from Boston to make the switch so that she could help decide the Democratic nominee. Emily Person said:

I drove here from Boston. I started getting nervous that I wasn't going to make it.

Some of these newly-minted Democrats may be foot soldiers in Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos." For weeks, Limbaugh has been urging his listeners to "rush the vote" and vote in their state's Democratic primary to prolong the nomination battle.