The following was posted by Tanner Brooks on Democracy for America's Blog for America:

According to a Homeland Security Department spokesman, U.S. officials are discussing the idea of postponing the November election in the event of a terrorist attack. American counterterrorism officials cited what they call "alarming" intelligence about a possible Al Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall.

Discussions about the postponement started with a recent letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge from DeForest Soaries Jr., chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Ridge has said he has "no specific or credible information about threats to the political conventions," but the November vote remains an open question.

Democrats are responding:

"I don't think there's an argument that can be made, for the first time in our history, to delay an election," said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a member of the Intelligence Committee.

"We hold elections in the middle of war, in the middle of earthquakes, in the middle of whatever it takes. The election is a statutory election. It should go ahead, on schedule, and we should not change it."

But many people are uneasy when the Bush administration talks about things like this. George Bush and his advisers are facing sinking poll numbers and the realization that just scaring people might not win them this election.

The administration that has done more to exploit fear for political gain than any other in recent memory is now talking about using that same fear to extend its term in office without an election.

George Bush and Karl Rove have a long record of using fear to pursue dubious policies from which they stand to gain. Time and again they have shown that they do not deserve the benefit of the doubt. Let us hope this isn't the beginning of something worse than we've yet seen.