27 Feb 2012
John McCain was urged to mount a last ditch legal challenge to Barack Obama's 2008 presidential victory but decided against it out of fear that holding back the historic election result would damage the US and could even lead to violence, according to a leaked memo from an American private intelligence firm.
The Republican presidential candidate was reportedly advised by aides to take the dramatic step of seeking an injunction to prevent the results in Ohio and Pennsylvania from being certified, a move that would have plunged the election night into chaos.
His campaign staff were said to have believed they had evidence of voter fraud in the two battleground states and could challenge the results in the court.
According to an analyst at Stratfor, the political intelligence company whose hacked emails are being published by WikiLeaks, Mr Mcain's staff were still pleading with him to take legal action in the moments before he appeared on stage in Arizona to deliver his concession speech.
The email claims that the 75-year-old Vietnam War hero judged that the scale of Mr Obama's victory was too great and believed the country would be damaged by a repeat of the contested 2000 election.
"McCain felt the crowds assembled in support of Obama and such would be detrimental to our country and it would do our nation no good for this to drag out like last go around, coupled with the possibility of domestic violence," the analyst wrote in a memo titled "Insight - McCain #5 ** internal use only - Pls do not forward".
Mr Obama's camp went into the November election confident of victory but deeply concerned that the Republicans would seek to derail them with legal challenges at individual polling stations and at state level. They had hired an army of lawyers in preparation for a drawn out court battle.
Even if Mr McCain had successfully challenged Mr Obama's wins in Pennsylvania and Ohio results it would not have overturned the scale of the Democrats' victory but it would have marred the sense of history being made on the night.
The Stratfor analyst wrote that many of Republican aides "were shocked, but after reflecting upon his decision, thought he put the country first."
The memo continues in a scathing analysis of the campaign's "serious errors in tactics" including refusing to allow Sarah Palin, Mr McCain's surprise pick of running mate, to campaign among Hispanics in Florida who reportedly "loved" her aggressive style.
It also refers to "whispers" that Mr McCain's campaign had been deliberately undermined by allies of George W Bush and his vice president, Dick Cheney, who believed that the independently-minded senator had been unfairly critical of their administration's record.
A spokeswoman for Mr McCain did not immediately return a request for comment.
The Stratfor files, around 5 million emails sent between analysts at the private intelligence firm, focus mainly on international affairs but offer occasional views on US politics.
One analyst poured cold water on Mitt Romney's election chances, writing in a 2009 email: "Romney can't make it. Mormons are viewed as Voo Doo."
SOURCE: Raf Sanchez - UK TELEGRAPH
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