Democratic senator, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, seems to be willfully ignorant or doesn't care about the important issue of Republican Bushite voter disenfranchisement also known as voter suppression.

The Senate Rules Committee was deliberating on the nominations to the Federal Election Commission of two Democrats and two Republicans, one of whom was Hans von Spakovsky who currently sits on the FEC, another of Bush's infamous recess appointments. 

Good old Ben broke Democratic ranks and threatened to vote for Hans which forced the Dems on the committee to send the four nominees to the full Senate instead of killing von Spakovsky's nomination in committee.

Why is Hans von Spakovsky such a terrible nominee?  It would be putting the fox in the hen house.  While he was an official in Bush's politicized Justice Department he was a leading player in voter disenfranchisement.
 
TPM Muckraker states that Von Spakovsky attempted to "intimidate Justice Department employees, stifle their appeals, single-handedly disenfranchise thousands of Arizonans and then give false testimony (later modified in written answers) to the Senate Rules Committee...."

Hans von Spakovsky is a one man Republican Bushite voter supprssion team,
suppressing voters who are likely to vote Democratic.  Who is Hans besides a Bushite minion who is morally and ethically challenged and would like to dismantle the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts?  Well the Civil Rights Coaltion for the 21st Century has information that will give you an idea just how low he crawls.  If that isn't enough to curl your toes, check out Think Progress about von Spakovsky which includes this paragraph,

"As the six former Justice Department officials wrote in June, because of his “dubious stewardship” of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the Senate Rules Committee should “refuse to reward” him with a seat on the Federal Election Commission."  Dubious stewardship is a fancy term for no integrity.

And Senator Ben Nelson wanted to vote for this guy!  Ben's stupidity knows no bounds!  Sending the nominations to the full Senate meant that von Spakovsky, a voter suppression enthusiast, had a good chance of keeping his recess appointed seat on the FEC for a full six year term because of the yea votes of such senators as Ben Nelson (Is he really a Democrat?), Joe Lieberman (Bush lover Joe) and probably every Republican (What else is new?).  Just in time for the 2008 election...how convenient!

Enter Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, who tends to snatch defeat from the jaws of Democratic victory regularly, to make a deal with that pillar of senatorial ethics, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Does Harry have any idea what is going on?  The deal included a voice vote on the four nominees if no senators objected to von Spakovsky's nomination.

Senators Barack Obama and Russ Feingold came to the rescue and are blocking the vote on Hans von Spakovsky.  Here is their joint statement:

"While at the Department of Justice, Hans von Spakovsky was directly involved in efforts to politicize the Department and use the Voting Rights Section to disenfranchise voters, rather than enforce our nation's civil rights laws. As a recess appointee to the FEC he has been a committed, ideological opponent of the campaign finance laws he is supposed to enforce. Putting him at the head of the FEC is just another example of this administration putting the fox in charge of the hen house. We oppose his nomination, and any effort to tie his nomination to the other pending nominations to the FEC."

Great going, Russ and Barack!