Laptop stolen from regional GOP headquarters

First Gov. Sarah Palin's e-mail account was hacked, and now a laptop with strategic information to help the Republican ticket in a critical swing state has been stolen.

A Dell laptop belonging to the Republican party's regional coordinator in Independence, Mo., was stolen on the night of September 30 out of the party's "Kansas City Victory Office." The Independence-based office supports Republican party operations at all levels, from the presidential ticket down to candidates for regional state representative seats.

The laptop contained "information you'd expect the coordinator for a GOP national campaign to have," such as information on areas to target for support, said Tina Hervey, communications director for the Missouri Republican party. Hervey could not say whether the information on the computer, issued by the Missouri Republican party, was encrypted or not.

Tom Gentry, the public information officer for the Independence police department, said a digital recorder and a satchel were also reported missing. Police arrived at the campaign office, which is located in a strip mall, just before 6 a.m. on October 1. A window had been broken, and a desk drawer had been ransacked, Gentry said. However, 22 Eee PCs were left behind in the office.

"One of the tiny, white computers was actually removed from the table where it was sitting and placed on the desk where the Dell was," Hervey said. "Somebody clearly had some time and was able to move things around."

Both Hervey and Gentry said the incident did not appear to be a random break-in.

"There are several businesses in that little mall, and there are other businesses that have more valuable things in them," Gentry said. "This is a predominantly Democratic county, and there are a lot of hot-heads on both sides, as usual."

He said that over the weekend a string of thefts of political signs--both Republican and Democratic--were reported in the area as well.

The break-in, incidentally, took place the night before Sen. John McCain spoke in Independence and Michelle Obama made an appearance in Kansas City, Mo. With 11 electoral votes up for grabs, Missouri is a critical swing state in the presidential race.

Gentry said there are no leads in the case, but the police will be inspecting video surveillance tapes from adjacent stores. Hervey said the party is taking extra precautions to prevent any further break-ins.

"As of today across the state there's a noticeable security presence upgrade at all of our offices," she said.

[Penguinisto]

Watergate? Oh, of course not... it's perfectly just normal for the Other Guys to get broken into and their stuff rummaged through.

;)

/P

[solu1978]

Ohhh .. if they cant secure their own office .. how can they secure USA ? This is a shame.

Crooks are all arround .. they just cant take things for granted.

[Brandonius Maximus]

Judging by the kind of campaign McCain has running for him, the "laptop with strategic information" was actually an Etch-a-sketch.

[shera89]

LOL!!!!!!! Brandonius, well put!

[0ri0n]

Or, this could simply be a tactic to gain the sympathy vote in a swing state. In an age when the media can swing a vote, and even inaccurate counts don't mean a thing after the 'declared winner'....I have lost my faith in truthfulness in any election.

[skswave]

Dell PCs can be ordered with an Encrypted hard drive option wich is easy for a single use to configure and extremely secure. The new business Laptops support this as an option. Everyone with sensitive data on their machine should make sure that their New Machines have Encrypted Drives Today the drives are built by Seagate and other drive manufactures have announce similar product. It's time to stop losing data.

Steven Sprague
Wave Systems Corp.
Written on a Dell Latitude 630 with a Seagate FDE (full disk encryption) drive

[acpryor]

If they don't cheat, they can't win. Sad really...

[Kwasiowusu]

The Obama street thugs and gangsters strike again.
But hey, what's new?
Obama got his training in the corrupt, gangster ruled, decadent, Democratic Party machine in Chicago.
The corruption of these guys go back as far as the machine gun totting gangsters of Al Capone.
Watergate and Richard Nixon can hold a candle to Obama.

[Dalkorian]

Typical repuke LIES - or do you have any actual proof of anything? No, some faux news article making unsubstantiated claims doesn't count.

Funny, the GOP did virtually the same thing in the article ...

"This is a predominantly Democratic county, and there are a lot of hot-heads on both sides, as usual."

My guess is this is staged to garner sympathy for a party that has no chance whatsoever of remaining in power based on performance. Just open any newspaper to see why.

[M C]

Of course! McCain's operation has been so well-oiled and successful that the only way to get an advantage is to take a local coordinator's laptop.

Give. Me. A. Break.

Obama has basically steamrolled McCain in the ground game - that's a known fact. Obama offices and volunteers outnumber McCain volunteers by a factor of ten, and often more. Observers who have been to both say the McCain offices are disorganized and sparse, while Obama's buzz with activity.

Short of nuclear launch codes that McCain could threaten the country with if he's not elected, I can't think of anything that guy could possibly have that Obama's people would remotely want.

[ralfthedog]

Medical records?

[Kwasiowusu]

@ M C : "Short of nuclear launch codes that McCain could threaten the country with if he's not elected, I can't think of anything that guy could possibly have that Obama's people would remotely want. "

Yeah?
Is that why a a Democrative Party operative band son of a Democratic Party congressman and rabid Obamabot illegally broke into Gov Palin's Yahoo email account and posted it all over the internet?
And is that why the the elecetion fraud criminals at ACORN, an outfit that Obama used to work for, who have been convicted countless times of voter fraud and election fruad, are busy stealing elections in Ohio even as we speak?
Let's face it, the Obama organisation have proven their criminal credentials over and over again in these elections. Nothing new here.

[benjwah]

Wow. You seem like a mellow and unbiased fellow who has only impartial feelings. I will listen to your opinions.

[Dalkorian]

by benjwah October 6, 2008 8:13 PM PDT
Wow. You seem like a mellow and unbiased fellow who has only impartial feelings. I will listen to your opinions.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

LOL! Yeah, my thoughts exactly.

[M C]

"Is that why..."?

Sounds like you don't have an answer to the original issue.

Paying attention pays dividends. Bringing up stuff where the talk-radio guy you heard it from didn't even know what HE was talking about makes you sound, well, how do I put this? Not well-informed.

[Dalkorian]

They learned this in 2004. Just repeat lies about their opponent ad nauseam until the election is over, some will be stupid enough to believe it and others won't find the truth until afterward when it's to late. They THINK it's going to work again like it did against Kerry, but that's because they can't read any newspapers. Truth is like kryptonite to them.

[JonFraudCarry]

Political crimes are only committed by Republicans. If a DemocRAT does something 'controversial' it is really a good thing, it is for the children, to save the polar bears, to provide clean drinking water for malnourished third world babies whose mothers are exploited by white European men.

[benjwah]

That's like how it's okay to engage in Swift-Boat attacks on a Democrat's service in Vietnam but if Wesley Clark suggests that crashing planes isn't a qualification for the White House, the Republicans jump on him.

For what it's worth, I think the entire American political system is ****** beyond repair.

[Kwasiowusu]

@ M C :"Sounds like you don't have an answer to the original issue."

Wrong answer.
The original issue is that a bunch of politial gangsters, broke into a Eepublican Party office and stole comnputers with sensitive data on them. Its no different from the KNOWN FACT that that the son of a Democratic Party cngressman, and known Obama fanatic, broke into Gov Palin's emakl account, stole her data, and plastered it all over the internet.
If Obama criminals stole Gov Palins comptuer datea its no surprise that Obama criminals stole the Missouri Republican Party computers as well.
Stop trying to change the topic.

[Dalkorian]

Stop passing around slander and lies. Provide proof of your accusations or shut the hell up.

[M C]

You don't have an answer. Thanks.

[Kwasiowusu]

@ M C , stop repeating mindless Daily Kos talking points, and try staying on topic. A crime has been committed and by politically motivated Obama supporting vermin. They should be arrested, tried and put in jail for a very long time. It's as simple as that.

[benjwah]

There's no proof it was a Democrat. It's not hard to imagine the Republicans pulling a stunt like that. After all, the Democrats don't need to shake up this race. They're cruising to victory. If anyone stands to gain from this, it's Republicans.
While it's quite clear that many Republicans support punishment regardless of whether a trial has proven anyone guilty, fortunately, your police still occasionally do a bit of work.

[spothannah]

Let me see... if only I could remember... Oh! Yeah, that was it... something about "Innocent until proven guilty." Where was that?.. Oh! Yeah, that was in some government document, that's where I read it!! My memory these days... what can I say... I'm just getting too old. I wonder if the document was sent to both candidates? Probably not, it was so long ago. Oh well, nevermind.

[Dalkorian]

That document is nothing but fancy old toilet paper to fuhrer bushit and mcSHAME has no more respect for it. "Innocent until proven guilty" is falling by the wayside for "guilty when we say you are, regardless".

Obama will fix this. Obama will return the Constitution to the prominence and glory it deserves. mcSHAME will continue to shred it while being cheered on by nazi's like kwasiowusu.

[M C]

Kwas, How is you not having an answer a "Daily Kos talking point"?

[WSmith84]

But what I'd like to know is how was the campaign office using the Asus Eee PCs? Is this a technology setup that's common to McCain Campaign offices?

[Harrison912]

I have a Dell laptop too and mine has a lojack on it for just such occasions as this. My computer, the foundational tool for building and marketing my safety and security web site, is indispensable to me, therefore I have it safe guarded with a lojack. Are you telling me a laptop used by a high level GOP regional coordinator with equally important data does not have such a safe guard in place?

[as901]

Laptops are stolen more than any other product. They are small, light weight and have value per pound. The real question should be, if the GOP cannot protect their own computers, how can they claim that they can protect us?

Mark Heinemann
Veteran against the Iraq war