In ACORN's Shadow

Schudson and Sonnevend talk about the fate of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), the community-organizing group that got caught in the electoral crossfire between one-time community organizer Barack Obama and a highly motivated conspiracy-minded contingent of conservative activists. The repeated attacks on ACORN for "voter fraud" moved into Sarah Palin's speeches and inspired John McCain in a televised presidential debate to suggest that ACORN "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe by destroying the fabric of democracy." Here, Schudson and Sonnevend contend that the controversy was devastating to ACORN. According to them, one question is whether the media gave ACORN its due.