Political Hotsheet
By

Brian Montopoli, Phil Hirschkorn /

CBS News/ September 14, 2012, 1:55 PM

Kansas Republicans: We need to see Obama's birth certificate

Updated 4:03 P.M. Eastern Time with Joe Montgomery dropping his petition. (See bottom.)

(CBS News) Kansas' Republican Secretary of State and two other Republican officials have determined that they do not have enough evidence to determine whether President Obama can appear on the Kansas ballot, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach, Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer said they need to review the president's birth certificate and other documents before they can respond to a complaint alleging that Mr. Obama is not a "natural born citizen."

The State Objections Board, which the trio serve on, is seeking more information from three states -- Hawaii, Arizona, and Mississippi. (Hawaii holds the president's birth certificate; government officials in Arizona and Mississippi have conducted similar investigations.) "The State Objections Board is asking other states for evidence presented to them on this same issue of eligibility," Kay Curtis, spokeswoman for Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, told CBS News.

"Given the cursory response from President Obama, the Board is merely attempting to obtain additional information before making a decision," said Curtis. Neither office of the Kansas Attorney General Schmidt or Kansas Lieutenant Governor Colyer returned calls for comment.

Mr. Obama has released his long-form birth certificate showing that he was born in Hawaii, but so-called "birthers" persist with a variety of arguments that he is ineligible for the presidency. Generally, they claim that the birth certificate as released by the president is a forgery or that he is not eligible for the presidency despite being born in Hawaii.

There is substantial evidence, including birth announcements in Hawaiian newspapers, to support the president's claims about his birthplace. The 14th amendment states that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Arizona Republican Secretary of State Ken Bennett has also flirted with keeping Mr. Obama off the ballot, claiming in May that his "responsibility as secretary of state is to make sure the ballots in Arizona are correct and that those people whose names are on the ballot have met the qualifications for the office they are seeking."

Mississippi lawmakers went to court to compel Hawaii to produce a birth certificate. Separately, a citizen of Mississippi alleged in a lawsuit that the president's Hawaii birth certificate was fake.

Kobach insisted that the complaint is not frivolous. "I do think the factual record could be supplemented," he said, according to the Capital-Journal.

Mr. Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and his maternal grandparents hail from Kansas.

Mitt Romney is almost certain to win the state whether or not Mr. Obama is on the ballot. Sen. John McCain won the state by 15 percentage points in 2008 despite losing the election. Kobach is an informal adviser to Romney's campaign.

The Mercury newspaper reported that the Kansas complaint, from a man named Joe Montgomery, alleges that Mr. Obama's father "retained his British and Kenyan citizenship and passed them on to his son." It claims that the president "has failed to provide any valid, certified, documentary evidence to legally establish birth in this country, much less to citizen parents." Under Kansas law, after its state primaries, any Kansan can object to the eligibility of a general election candidate for any office.

No one appeared at the Kansas hearing on behalf of President Obama or the Democratic Party of Kansas. In response to Montgomery's complaint, on the behalf of Obama for America, lawyer Kip Wainscott, from the Washington, D.C. law firm of Perkins Coie, had sent Kansas a two-page letter calling Montgomery's argument "utterly baseless."

"Like the scattered remnants of 'birthers' in other proceedings, the Objector presents this argument despite a series of cases in federal and state courts that have unequivocally rejected the same factual and legal contentions, and also despite public records that have been released demonstrating conclusively that the President was born in Hawaii in 1961," Wainscott wrote. "President Obama satisfies the requirements of Article II of the United States Constitution, is eligible to serve as President of the United States, and is eligible to stand for re-election to that office."

The State Objections Board is scheduled to meet again on Monday to discuss the objection and make the decision, at Memorial Hall in Topeka.

UPDATE: Montgomery withdrew his objection Friday afternoon in response to public reaction, the Huffington Post reported, effectively ending the challenge. He told Huffington Post he had wanted to start a dialogue. "I have not been successful in that objective," he said. "Not in achieving a constructive dialogue."

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
182 Comments Add a Comment
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RollotheNorman says:
Can't we just eject Kansas from the United States?
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Pleasestopfighting says:
About a decade ago, this topic wouldn't even have made it into consideration by main stream media because it is beyond the area of serious consideration. Why do birthers not care to investigate how our economy collapsed and find the ties that bring us right to Romney's door? He and so many like him are responsible for the terrible disaster the greed economy has created. He doesn't create jobs, he creates hell on earth.
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RollotheNorman replies:
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Uh, birther's don't care to investigate why the economy collapsed and it's relationship Willard Gekko, because it's all so far over their head.
KenyanBornbamAcorn replies:
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Here's some investigating for ya, but can you handle the truth?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zPRYmTSeOpSvXr0rXVun-WIw1OtWxYY9dOstdQmMIqo/edit

Oh and the financial crisis was created by Clinton and Obama...

THE TRUTH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpPEYXIMglI
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KenyanBornbamAcorn says:
SUPREME COURT PRECEDENT

Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162 (1874) Chief Justice Waite

'Allegiance and protection are, in this connection (that is, in relation to citizenship) reciprocal obligations. The one is a compensation for the other; allegiance for protection, and protection for allegiance.'
"The Constitution does not, in words, say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At common-law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives, or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners. Some authorities go further and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first."


The Venus, 12 U.S. 8 Cranch 253 (1814) Chief Justice Marshall:

"The whole system of decisions applicable to this subject, rests on the law of nations as its base. It is, therefore, of some importance to enquire how far the 24 writers on that law consider the subjects of one power residing within the territory of another, as retaining their original character, or partaking of the character of the nation in which they reside. "Vattel, who, though not very full to this point, is more explicit and more satisfactory on it than any other whose work has fallen into my hands, says, 'the citizens are the members of the civil society; bound to this society by certain duties, and subject to its authority, they equally participate in its advantages. The natives, or indigenes, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens. Society not being able to subsist and to perpetuate itself but by the children of the citizens, those children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all their rights."
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RollotheNorman replies:
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Go chase yer tail.
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KenyanBornbamAcorn says:
WAKE UP PEOPLE and learn the facts:

Obama literary agent claims Obama was Kenyan-born ~ Now DOZENS more articles confirm the same!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1grt5uehak

Guaranteed proof Obama is a USURPER ~ 100% sourced w/govt documents ~ 2012 Vetting Obama:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1DHZmeMXyE

Kenyan Parliament ADMITS Obama is NOT a Native American ~ 2012 Vetting Obama:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_8PC3oKAvA
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ralphing says:
There is all the proof in the world that Obama's mother is a U.S. citizen from Kansas, which is all it takes for Obama to be considered a citizen, yet all the birthers can harp on is his father. They then claim Hawaii is corrupt by giving out a fake birth certificate, yet Kansas appears more corrupt by alleging another State who uses the same protocols as they is corrupt.
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KenyanBornbamAcorn replies:
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But unfortunately, the President must be a Natural Born Citizen, not just a citizen.

Article 2 Section 1 clause 5 clearly states:
"No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President"

A Natural Born Citizen OR a "citizen" at the time of the adoption of the Constitution...

Because there is no one alive today, that was alive at the adoption, that part of the clause is obsolete, so ALL candidates must now be natural and not just a citizen.

Are you saying that Obama was alive at the adoption of the Constitution?
KenyanBornbamAcorn replies:
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Do you mean this proof?:
http://www.scribd.com/collections/3248475/Kenyan-Gov-Officials-African-Newspapers-Obama-1991-Bio-Obama-Family-Mbrs-and-other-Accounts-Reporting-Obama-is-Kenyan-Born

Debunk all of those and you WIN!
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Jaylah54200 says:
Why are paranoid schizophrenics even allowed to vote, never mind hold elected office?
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KenyanBornbamAcorn replies:
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I'm telling you, we need to get that FREAK out of our White House, NOW!
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melbatom says:
Good point: Need to ask WHY the orginal was not formally released in the first place? That bugged me and I bet that is true with a lot of people. Fact is was he actually born in Hawaii or not? Don't forget that he could have been born elsewhere and then flow back in with no flight record as in his day you could travel as a small child in your mommy;s lap with no charge or record of a ticket. I suspect he was born in Hawaii but his birth records was not properly filed as required.
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calif7 replies:
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Give it up.
rharrin1 replies:
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And AMERICA is still waiting to see Romney TAX RETURNS Kansaas.
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audemus says:
I really believe America needs to decide if we are still committed to Democracy, or have become willing to allow the power-mad and monied interests to do with the United States what they will.

There is this concerted effort by the right-wing to impose voter I.D. laws which make it more difficult if not impossible for a large segment of our population (the majority Democratic...purely coincidental I'm sure), to vote...there are the attempts at purging the voting rolls, again by the Republican right...and now this asinine idea, even though withdrawn, by Republicans yet again, to have an actual sitting President's name stricken from a states' ballot over an issue that all but the most corrupt, stupid, bigoted or insane (or all four), have long since put to rest.

In a true Democracy, people are supposed to be ENCOURAGED to vote, and every accommodation to ensure that participation has always been a part of the deal....not only that, but in America, we've been reminded of this right AND obligation since we were children...that right to vote is a fact of life as old as our country, and a historical concept of free societies dating back thousands of years, and indeed what separated us from a great many other places around the world that did not, and still do not, have that FREEDOM. Americans have given their lives to protect it, and even today, right at this moment, there are young folks from all over this country fighting to guarantee that you and I continue to have that right to make their voices heard...and counted.

The people and institutions that have become the apparent sworn enemy of Democracy have no place in our society, and should be exposed for the corrupt, despicable, power-grabbing, greedy parasites they are. They should be ashamed, and they owe us all an apology....Arlington National Cemetery would be a good place for them to begin.
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tvwatcher5345 says:
this is the same state that has the westboro baptist church (the church that protests at US soldier's funerals) apparently the state of KS was not already embarrassed enough and needed montgomery's help to make the state really appealing, i will truly say a prayer for the KS republicans..........and watch nov 6th as obama gets re-elected and the dems retain control (with the help of the independents) of the senate...i have taken the the day after the election as a vacation day and will be watching FOX all night, and i am ordering chinese food....bon appetit mitt (mitt who speaks french very well bacause he went to france to avoid having to go to vietnam)
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RollotheNorman says:
Dorthy is packing for OZ.
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