'New eligibility strategy working'

[Confederate Kahanist]

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=146885




WASHINGTON – A new petition launched less than a month ago is setting the course for a strategy that will result in Barack Obama either proving his constitutional eligibility to serve or forcing him to forgo a run for re-election, says the man who orchestrated the effort.

On April 5, Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive
officer of WND, announced a new online petition drive to get state legislators and state election officials to ensure presidential candidates prove their constitutional eligibility before getting on state ballots.

Since then, the Arizona House of Representatives passed such legislation. However, the legislative session is scheduled to end without action in the state Senate. But the sponsor of the legislation, Rep. Judy Burges, told WND she will reintroduce the bill in the next session and work closely with a senator on ensuring the bill is carried there.

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Meanwhile, a number of other states have taken action:

    * Georgia has a plan by Rep. Mark Hatfield, House Bill 1516, but the legislative session is closing soon. He expects to use it to create support for the plan when the legislature returns in the fall.

    * New Hampshire has a proposal pending that would require candidates meet the "qualifications contained in the U.S. Constitution."

    * Oklahoma has a proposal that would be a referendum for voters on the issue.

    * South Carolina has had discussions over a plan to prohibit the name of a candidate on a ballot "unless that person shows conclusive evidence that he is a legal citizen of the United States."

    * Several other states have discussed requirements for candidates but they did not specifically address the Article 2, Section 1 compliance so it's unclear whether they would have addressed Obama's situation.

Then there's Rep. Bill Posey's bill at the federal level.

Posey's H.R. 1503 states:

    "To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require the principal campaign committee of a candidate for election to the office of President to include with the committee's statement of organization a copy of the candidate's birth certificate, together with such other documentation as may be necessary to establish that the candidate meets the qualifications for eligibility to the Office of President under the Constitution."

The bill also provides:

    "Congress finds that under … the Constitution of the United States, in order to be eligible to serve as President, an individual must be a natural born citizen of the United States who has attained the age of 35 years and has been a resident within the United States for at least 14 years."

The sponsors' goal is for the bill to become effective for the 2012 presidential election. The legislation now is pending in a House committee and has more than a dozen co-sponsors.

"This idea is clearly working," said Farah. "What we need are hundreds of thousands of Americans endorsing this strategy on the petition – encouraging more action by state officials before the 2012 election. Imagine if just one or two states adopt such measures before 2012. Obama will be forced to comply with those state regulations or forgo any effort to get on the ballot for re-election. Can Obama run and win without getting on all 50 state ballots. I don't think so."

The new petition launched after one directed at all controlling legal authorities at the federal level attracted some 500,000 names.

For 18 months, Farah has been one of the few national figures who has steadfastly pushed the issue of eligibility, despite ridicule, name-calling and ostracism at the hands of most of his colleagues. To date, in addition to the earlier petition, he has:

    * erected billboards around the country demanding, "Where's the birth certificate?"

    * produced a 40-page special report on the subject;

    * produced a 60-minute documentary video primer on the issue;

    * manufactured yard and rally signs to bring attention to the topic;

    * pledged to donate at least $15,000 to any hospital in Hawaii or anywhere else that provides proof Obama was born there and given you an opportunity to raise the amount;

    * created a line of T-shirts you can wear to appearances by the president to raise visibility of the issue;

    * created a fund to which you can donate to further the kind of investigative reporting into this matter only this company has performed over the last two years;

    * launched a line of postcards you can use to keep the issue alive;

    * distributed thousands of bumper stickers asking, "Where's the birth certificate?"

Farah says all those campaigns will continue.

"Obama may be able to continue showing contempt for the Constitution and the rule of law for the next two years, as he has demonstrated his willingness to do in his first year in office," he says in a column. "However, a day of reckoning is coming. Even if only one significant state, with a sizable Electoral College count, decides a candidate for election or re-election has failed to prove his or her eligibility, that makes it nearly impossible for the candidate to win. It doesn't take all 50 states complying with the law to be effective."