TPM Muckracker is digging further into the story of the deceptive robo-calls in North Carolina that targeted African-American voters.

A story breaking this morning from the respected Institute for Southern Studies has found that a Washington D.C. interest group, Women's Voices. Women Vote. is the organization behind deceptive robo-calls in North Carolina designed to confuse, and, ultimately, disenfranchise, African-American voters.

D.C. nonprofit aimed at women voters behind deceptive N.C. robo-calls

Who's behind the mysterious "robo-calls" that have spread misleading voter information and sown confusion and frustration among North Carolina residents over the last week?

Facing South has confirmed the source of the calls, and the mastermind is Women's Voices Women Vote, a D.C.-based nonprofit which aims to boost voting among "unmarried women voters."

What's more, Facing South has learned that the firestorm Women's Voices has ignited in North Carolina isn't the group's first brush with controversy. Women's Voices' questionable tactics have spawned thousands of voter complaints in at least 11 states and brought harsh condemnation from some election officials for their secrecy, misleading nature and likely violations of election law.

So what are they doing (not only in North Carolina, but, apparently, in 11 previous states, as well):

The political pundit class is regularly pilloried by the leading lights of the progressive blogosphere. Maureen Dowd, for example, is rightly ridiculed for her penchant to dwell on inanities rather than issues. David Broder, the "Dean" of the Beltway pundits, is mocked for his myopic, inside-the-Beltway vision of politics.

And the press, in general, is torn to shreds by top progressive bloggers for a variety of sins: getting facts wrong; focusing on side issues; failing to cover serious gaffes of a Republican frontrunner while giving overblown coverage to the smallest Democratic candidate misstep.

The performances of ABC's George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson in the last debate were horrendous, and progressive blog honchos (except for a few ardent Clinton backers) chastised the pair for their shallow, trivial circus act.

So one would think that top progressive bloggers, many of whom have been arguing that they are, indeed, journalists, would try and do better than the very media elites they so often criticize.

Oh, if only it were so...

Senator Joe McCarthy returns from the dead! And he has reappeared in the form of Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) communication director and Clinton backer, Rick Sloan.

Edsall give the details at Huffington Post:

Clinton Backer Distributes Essay On How GOP Would Link Obama To '70s Radicals

A high-ranking labor supporter of Hillary Clinton is distributing to union leaders and to Democratic strategists a document detailing the radical activities of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, two former members of the `70s group the Weather Underground, who decades later, in Chicago, crossed paths with Barack Obama.

The document - a three-page emailed essay by Rick Sloan, communications director for the International Association of Machinists as Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) -- takes both literary and political license to outline what Sloan believes would be the thrust of a hypothetical Republican campaign against Obama focusing on his tangential connection to Ayers and Dohrn.

The goal of the essay appears to be to discredit Obama as the prospective Democratic presidential nominee.

Just far enough away from Camp Clinton that they can say, "Not us!" Will they "reject and denounce" this? Probably on the Sunday morning shows where folks like lil' Georgie are sure to bring it up!

As some folks know, Larry Johnson and his pal, susanhu (SusanUnPC) at the foul NoQuarter blog have been peddling this William Ayers garbage for months. And months. And more months. It was nice to see that they finally succeeded in getting someone in the media -- besides Hannity, Limbaugh or O'Reilly -- to ask "the tough questions" on Obama's relationship to `60's radical, Ayers.

Obama and Ayers served on the board of The Woods Fund of Chicago for a few years in the 1990s. Ayers was, and continues to be, a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago and remains on the Fund's board. The Board of Trustees consists of 10 people, most of whom are academics or business leaders.

The foundation, for those who don't know, has a long history of doing great things for the underprivileged in Chicago, dating back to the Fund's founding in 1941.

From their Mission page:

The foundation works primarily as a funding partner with nonprofit organizations. Woods supports nonprofits in their important roles of engaging people in civic life, addressing the causes of poverty and other challenges facing the region, promoting more effective public policies, reducing racism and other barriers to equal opportunity, and building a sense of community and common ground.

Sounds radical, doesn't it?

During this long primary campaign, Hillary Clinton has always been penned-in (no pun intended) by her own history. Years of being a target by media sources and Republicans raised her unfavorability numbers to near 50%, usually hovering around 45%-48%. This history makes it difficult for her to go on the attack because to do so plays directly into her unfavorables.

Clinton supporters have told me, over and over, that Clinton is a "known quantity," and, therefore, voters who don't like her already don't like her. In other words, her negative numbers were topped out.

Frankly, I never bought that argument. Her numbers could always go higher. And they have.

Which brings us to Obama's "bitter" comment...

I know it has become conventional wisdom among the giant brains of Hillary backers that Barack Obama is personally responsible for stifling democracy in Florida and Michigan.

But do you mind if I ask a few questions?

• How is Obama personally responsible for the parties in Michigan and Florida moving up their primaries against the DNC rules?
• What role do the DNC sanctions have on the process?
• Were state party officials aware of the DNC sanctions and consequences?
• Who bears the greatest responsibility for the sanctions being imposed on these states, and, by extension, their voters? State officials, the DNC or Barack Obama?

Just in over the wire...

Calipari suggests new rule be applied retroactively, giving Memphis win

(Sportswire, San Antonio) John Calipari, head coach of the Memphis men's basketball team which lost the NCCA title game last night to Kansas, has called for a change in rules on three point shots to allow one foot of a shooter to be on or inside the three-point line at the time of the shot.