“Last week, Darrell Issa got a scalp. On September 11, the Census Bureau broke its ties to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) after several ACORN officials were caught on hidden cameras offering advice to conservative activists posing as a stereotypical prostitute and an outrageously stereotypical pimp. ACORN was originally one of 80,000 community groups that agreed to help promote the Census, but with the hidden-camera footage all over the internet and Fox News, the bureau decided it didn’t want the free help. (On September 15, the Senate joined the pile-on, overwhelmingly passing a law blocking ACORN from receiving any funding from a number of federal sources.) ACORN, long a target of the right, became a bete noire for conservatives during the 2008 election cycle when Republicans argued that some ACORN employees’ submission of fake voter registrations was evidence of massive, widespread voter fraud.” (09/09)