DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A columnist who infiltrated the presidential campaign of Republican Gary Bauer during the Iowa caucus has avoided jail by pleading guilty to voter fraud. Dan Savage, 36, had been charged with two counts of voter fraud for casting a ballot using a Des Moines hotel address. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraudulently voting in a caucus, a misdemeanor.

By pleading guilty, Savage was spared a trial on a felony voter fraud count. He could have faced up to six years in prison. He was sentenced instead to a year's probation, 50 hours' community service and a $750 fine.

Savage, who is gay, wrote an article for the online magazine Salon.com recounting how he had infiltrated Bauer's campaign to protest the candidate's anti-gay platform.

Savage said one of his goals had been to reveal the vulnerability of the caucus process, used as an early test of a candidate's strength. "The process is so open to abuse," he said.

In the article, he also said he had licked door knobs at campaign headquarters, hoping to give Bauer a bout of the flu. But in a February interview with The Associated Press, Savage denied the account, saying he used the virus-spreading theme as a metaphor for Bauer's stance on homosexuals.

Iowa Republican Party spokeswoman Ann Dougherty said Savage had belittled the voter registration process. She denied that the caucuses have a security problem.

"It's a shame that guy did that," she said. "If there was a flaw, maybe more of those would slip through."

-- Who cares (avout@Gary.Bauer?), November 12, 2000

Answers

...licked door knobs...

Wouldn't it have been just as effective(?) to sneeze on them? Or hock a lugee and paint the knobs with the infected goop?

-- Bingo1 (howe9@shentel.net), November 12, 2000.

Ah yes, the old *licking the knobs* trick.

-- I (h@ve.spoken), November 12, 2000.

"If there was a flaw, maybe more of those would slip through."

How does she know they didn't?

-- Patricia (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), November 12, 2000.