It's probably going to be lost in coverage of today's South Carolina GOP presidential primary but the biggest story of the day - and maybe much more than that even - could prove to be the arrest of a former Obama campaign staffer in a scheme to impersonate Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz.
Here's the basic story from the Des Moines Register:
"A Des Moines man has been arrested after police say he used, or tried to use, the identity of Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz in a scheme to falsely implicate Schultz in perceived unethical behavior in office.
"Zachary Edwards was arrested Friday and charged with identity theft.
"The Iowa Department of Public Safety issued a news release saying Schultz's office discovered the scheme on June 24, 2011 and notified authorities.
"The criminal complaint says Edwards fraudulently used or attempted to use the identity of Schultz or Schultz's brother with the intent to obtain a benefit. No other details were given.
"The case did not appear yet in online court records and no attorney information was immediately available.
"If convicted, Edwards could face up to two years in prison."
That has bad-news-for-Obama written all over it.
Shane Vander Hart at Iowa Grounds points to the obvious surmise:
"So for political reasons Secretary Schultz and his brother Thomas were targeted… hmmmmm…. Where are we Chicago? You don’t like what a person stands for so you’re going to try to ruin them personally? I’d like to know who was this guy working for? Since he was caught he’s obviously not very bright which means somebody else was likely the brain...behind this."
And who might that somebody else be is the central question. Edwards worked for Obama in Nevada and five other states during the 2008 Democratic primary and general election campaigns.
Somebody apparently tried to erase Edwards' bio from the web, but the ever-resourceful Glenn Reynolds, who first alerted me to this story earlier today, located it in the Wayback Machine.
You will recall that ACORN and other Democratic satelites organized a campaign a couple of years back to install their allies in Secretary of State offices in as many key states as possible. Such officials are responsible for enforcing - or not enforcing - state election laws.
Being a Republican, Schultz represented an obstacle to the plan. Could that be why Edwards sought to, according to the Des Moines Register, falsify Schultz indentity in an effort to implicate him in a scandal that would result in his possible removal from office or defeat in the next election?
Powerline's John Hinderaker sums it all up:
"So on its face, Edwards’s identity theft appears to be part of a coordinated effort by the Iowa Democratic Party to bring down the Republican Secretary of State so he can be replaced with a Democrat. We hope that Edwards will get the long jail term that he deserves, but the more important question is, from whom was he taking instructions? Circumstantially, one would guess from his boss, Jeff Link. But if so, who was instructing (and paying?) Link’s firm? The White House? Tom Harkin? Iowa’s Democratic Party?"
So here we have what looks like the potential beginning of a significant election campaign scandal and I am sure editors at the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and, especially, MSNBC and CNN are at this very moment lining up their top investigative reporters to dig into the story.
What you doubt that?
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