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Markos commissioned a national poll to ascertain just how many people out there are suckering for the right's "Birther" conspiracy theories.

For the country as a whole, it looks good:

Do you believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States of America or not?

Yes 77

No 11

Not sure 12

But when we look at Republicans alone, it looks pretty grim:

Yes No Not sure

Dem 93 4 3

Rep 42 28 30

Ind 83 8 9

In other words, nearly a third of them believe the Birthers outright, and another third of them think "they may have a point there, Vern."

And where are the bulk of these gullible saps from?

Yes No Not sure

Northeast 93 4 3

South 47 23 30

Midwest 90 6 4

West 87 7 6

These numbers reveal that there's a strong regional component to the abject willingness of some Americans to buy any kind of cockamamie BS available if it bashes liberals.

The evidence is already compelling that Republicans are in the midst of stealing Florida's 13th, and as Paul Krugman noted today, this is a clear instance in which paperless voting machines “delivered the race to the wrong candidate.” Indeed, state officials, who already unfairly certified Republican Vern Buchanan the "winner," tapped an FSU professor as an “independent” expert to oversee an audit -- despite the fact that this prof made an appearance on the steps of the Florida Supreme Court during the 2000 recount battle wearing a “Bush Won” sign.

Krugman pointed to the big picture.

I’ve been shocked at how little national attention the mess in Sarasota has received. Here we have as clear a demonstration as we’re ever likely to see that warnings from computer scientists about the dangers of paperless electronic voting are valid — and most Americans probably haven’t even heard about it.

As far as I can tell, the reason Florida-13 hasn’t become a major national story is that neither control of Congress nor control of the White House is on the line. But do we have to wait for a constitutional crisis to realize that we’re in danger of becoming a digital-age banana republic?

I hope not, but given the reaction thus far, it's hard to be optimistic. E. J. Dionne Jr. has more.

-Steve Benen