John and the Cons

McCain was asked today if he supports the specific anti-affirmative action initiative put on the Arizona ballot by Ward Connerly's organizers. He responded [1]:

MCCAIN: Ye, I do. I do not believe in quotas. But I have not seen the details of some of the proposals. But I've always opposed quotas.
STEPHANAPOULOS: But the one in Arizona you support?
MCCAIN: I support it, yes.

The Obama campaign has pointed out that this is a flip-flop. Of as great relevance, I'd think, is the question of whether McCain can afford the association with con men [2]:

WENTZVILLE – This Sunday Wentzville Police found a Missouri Civil Rights Initiative petitioner named John Wynne...who is wanted in three states (ed. note: Washington, Indiana and Oregon) for voter fraud related charges. Police were responding to a call at Kohl’s Department store about a petitioner and two community volunteers who were educating voters about the damaging impacts of the initiative.

The charges of “obtaining signatures by deception” are misdemeanors that do not warrant extradition so Wentzville Police did not take Mr. Wynne into custody on Sunday. The petitioner has been spotted by community volunteers consistently over the last several weeks and therefore have every reason to believe he is still on the street gathering signatures for MoCRI....

“We wanted to monitor whether John Wynne was gathering signatures honestly, but he was unwilling to have us witness,” said Lara Granich, director of Missouri Jobs with Justice. “On Sunday we followed him among six sites in two hours in Wentzville and he would leave every time we got within earshot.”

Here's how the New York Times [3] reported those signature-gathers work:

DENVER — Freddie Whitney was walking out of a King Soopers supermarket here this winter when she was approached by three young men.

They politely asked if she was against discrimination and, if so, if she would sign a petition that would legally end the practice in the state. After scanning it briefly, Ms. Whitney, a 78-year-old African-American, signed it.

A few weeks later, Ms. Whitney says, she was shocked to learn from a local newspaper that she had unwittingly lent her support to a ballot measure called the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative that seeks to eliminate state programs that give preferential treatment to minorities and women.