Columbiana GOP chairman blasts Obama campaign

Columbiana County Republican Chairman David Johnson is warning John McCain supporters that the Barack Obama campaign and “radical groups” that support him “are doing their level best to steal this election.”

In a letter sent primarily to Columbiana County Republicans, Johnson strongly criticized the Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a voter outreach group.

They are “signing up folks from homeless shelters, from inner city projects, from bars and from virtually anywhere else they can find a willing soul to register and to vote,” Johnson wrote of Obama’s campaign and ACORN.

Alex Goepfert, an Ohio Democratic Party spokesman, criticized Johnson for the letter.

“The clear appearance here is that of a cynical attempt to play upon old divisions in the hopes of distracting voters from the real issues in the election,” he said.

It’s the latest volley between the two major political party candidates about race and ACORN.

Johnson said today that he stands by what he wrote in the letter.

Johnson also said he strongly objected to any implication that he’s a racist because he wrote about “inner city projects.”

For the complete story, read Saturday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com