Ward Connerly, the infamous anti-affirmative action activist, might be thwarted in Arizona, where an affirmative action ban is supposed to be on the ballot in November. Opponents just filed a lawsuit to block the measure, saying Connerly & Co. used shady methods to collect the 325,000 signatures required to get the measure on the ballot. The opponents might have a shot. A committee of volunteers formed by State Rep. Kyrsten Sinema pored through pages and pages of the petition, finding highly suspicious signatures from "Jimmy Carter," "Jerry Ford," "John Kennedy," and "Robert Kennedy." Someone who signed the name "Momar Kadafie," listed his country as "Saudie Arabia," with an Arizona zip code.

For his part, Connerly said that either signature-gathering process was infiltrated by enemy organizations — one of which is called By Any Means Necessary — or these are just common names of normal Arizonans. Yet, even he can see that Arizona might not be working out for him this time around — three ballot other ballot initiatives have already been scrapped this year based on procedural concerns. Ward still sort of wins — similar measures will still definitely be on the ballots in Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. [HP]