McCain Hiring Field Organizers Who Support Obama

The UK Times reports that some of John McCain's canvassers are actually supporting Barack Obama -- they're just there for the money.

Two women walk out of John McCain's Mid-West headquarters carrying a pile of voter canvassing sheets, one sports a baseball hat declaring her a "team leader" of the Republican campaign. And both are black -- an unusual sight in an election where Barack Obama's support among African Americans is almost monolithic.

Are they volunteers? They look at each other sheepishly. "Not exactly," replies one. "We work for an employment agency," says the other. Who are they voting for? "I don't want to say," says the first woman. "Obama -- of course!" whispers the braver of the pair.

They laugh, then look over their shoulders at the office behind them. "Don't give him your name, he'll put it in the paper," says the cautious one, explaining that they cannot afford to lose their $10-an-hour (£6) jobs. "This is embarrassing. We're doing this because we have to live. At least none of our friends can see us. We're from Chicago -- like Obama."

The Uptake found more paid "volunteers" in Florida, before the reporter was cut off by a McCain campaign staffer who angrily told her to stop filming. The staffer threatened to have her arrested for filming people who had signed confidentiality agreements.