Man Dressed As Squirrel Disrupts Democrats
Monday, October 20, 2008 1:30 PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A man who was dressed in a squirrel costume was escorted from the Ohio Statehouse steps on Monday morning while Gov. Ted Strickland, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and Mayor Michael Coleman were discussing negative campaigning by Republicans.

The squirrel held up a sign that said, "Don't Let Obama + ACORN Steal Ohio."

Strickland, Brown and Coleman stood on the Statehouse steps to call for an end to what they called "lying, deceitful ads" by Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, 10TV's Patrick Bell reported.

McCain's campaign accuses ACORN, a community activist group that operates nationwide, of perpetrating "massive voter fraud," claiming Sen. Barack Obama has "long and deep" ties to the group.

"I say to Sen. McCain and those backing him in the way they do things to stop squirreling around and start being straight with voters," Coleman said. "We ought to be tired of the ridiculousness we're seeing here."

Ohio Democratic officials have admitted that up to a third of the 600,000 new voter registrations made this year have some kind of discrepancy.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a bid by Republicans to force Ohio to verify suspicious registration before the Nov. 4 election.

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, has said the discrepancies most likely stem from innocent clerical errors rather than fraud but has set up a verification plan.

"This unanimous ruling by the United States Supreme Court allows Ohio to move about the business of ensuring a free, fair, open and honest election without the threat of widespread voter suppression by the GOP," Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said in a statement.