The Missouri right wing is revving up its attack on Robin Carnahan by creating a website that attempts to tie her to (cue spooky music) ACORN. Dig that turned up collar on the second picture of her. Does she look like someone the CIA would target, or what?

But the conspiracy the website breathlessly proclaims doesn’t exist. The site yaps about close ties between Carnahan and ACORN:

Over the years, Robin Carnahan has maintained close ties with the embattled liberal organization ACORN – furthering their goals and whitewashing their record of corruption and fraud. So the Missouri GOP requested all email correspondence between Carnahan’s office and ACORN to determine just how cozy their relationship really is. We received more than 1,400 documents.

Ooh. What a shocking, hair-raising allegation, that the Secretary of State has been in frequent e-mail contact with a non-profit organization. But, as those who created the site must know, the correspondence mainly concerned ACORN’s  successful lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Social Services (DSS) for violating the 1993 National Voter Registration Act. That law requires state social service agencies to provide low income residents with the opportunity to register to vote or to change their registration address when they visit the agency’s office. The Missouri DSS had been failing to comply and, in a lawsuit that spanned more than a year, ACORN sued over that.

Since the Secretary of State’s office is the repository of voting records, including registration records, of course ACORN was constantly in touch there with records requests. Many of those 1,400 documents were something to the effect of “thanks for sending that document we requested.” You know, common civility in the course of everyday business dealings.

So duh. Of course there are 1,400 documents.

Here’s the bottom line on the reason for the new GOP Carnahan/ACORN conspiracy website: help Roy Blunt as well as the entire Republican ticket by going after the top of the ticket in an off year election.

Blunt started his campaign pitiably weak. (In the second first quarter, Carnahan doubled him up in fundraising.) But by now, national Republicans realize how important this seat will be, and they’ve got lobbyists forking it over big time for their boy. He’s leading Carnahan in fundraising, and the two are neck and neck in the polls.

The man who “guaranteed” he would come up with a health care alternative to what the Dems were offering (When? In the year 2525?) can’t exactly run on his record of achievement. So it’s time to stir up the frenzy in the base. He is stirring up their hatred, using ACORN as the poker. Never mind that there’s no substance to the charge. In off year elections, the commitment of the base is hugely important. The more committed they are, the higher their turnout at the polls and the greater their volunteer activities.

Thus the lame website with the lame name. Glenn Burleigh of St. Louis ACORN said it took him about three seconds to come up with a snazzier title for it: Acornahan. Anybody running that site up for a little plagiarism?