The Washington Post reported on Monday that nearly half the U.S. attorneys slated for removal by the administration last year were identified by Rove or other administration officials as working in districts that were trouble spots for voter fraud -- Kansas City, Mo.; Milwaukee; New Mexico; Nevada; and Washington state. Four of the five prosecutors in those districts were dismissed.

Senior counselor Matthew Friedrich, turned over notes to Congress that detailed a telephone conversation about voter fraud with another Justice official, Benton Campbell, chief of staff for the Criminal Division.

The notes show that Campbell identified Nevada as a problem district. Daniel G. Bogden of Las Vegas was among the nine U.S. attorneys known to have been removed from their jobs last year.

Rick Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School who runs an election law blog, said that "there's no question that Karl Rove and other political operatives" urged Justice officials to apply pressure on U.S. attorneys to pursue voter-fraud allegations in parts of the country that were critical to the GOP.

Hasen said it remains unclear, however, "whether they believed there was a lot of fraud and U.S. attorneys would ferret it out, or whether they believed there wasn't a lot of fraud but the allegations would serve political purposes."

The behind-the-scenes maneuvering to replace U.S. attorneys viewed as weak on voter fraud, from state Republican parties to the White House, is one element of a nationwide partisan brawl over voting rights in recent years. Ever since the contested 2000 presidential election, which ended in a Florida recount and intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court, both political parties have attempted to use election law to tip close contests to their advantage.

Possible voter fraud in Nevada. I can't believe it. It's not like we live in a state where Clark County commissioners would give key employer status to Vinnie Faraci who is going to prison later this year--after several commissioners received jail sentences for taking bribes over another strip club incident; or the Las Vegas city council or its mayor, Oscar Goodman, would continue to support mob run businesses, such as Crazy Horse Too; or judges would sit on cases involving business partners; or Governor Gibbons would be under investigation for possibly taking favors, including an alleged $100,000, to award contracts to a friend while Gibbons was in Congress. I mean...I would just be shocked!