Obama's ACORN-defending lawyers

Twice in the last week, the Obama campaign's general counsel, Robert F. Bauer of the Perkins & Cole law firm, has written U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, seeking to shut down the reported FBI investigation of ACORN and others. Instead, Bauer says, there should be a probe of those who have voiced concerns of voter registration fraud, claiming it's an intimidation effort designed to suppress voter turnout.

As the Obama campaign's first letter claimed on Oct. 17, "Voter registration impropriety does not constitute actual vote fraud." It asserts that registration concerns are "manufactured allegations of fraud."

Federal law treats registration fraud more seriously, as it should. Even an attempt to register falsely is a federal crime, punishable by up to five years in prison. The penalty is the same for those who aid or abet that effort.