Charlie Black is a senior advisor to John McCain’s campaign and founder & chairman of the B.K.S.H. & Associates Worldwide telcom lobbying firm [www.bksh.com] that works for defense contractor United technologies [www.UTC.com].

Mark Penn is the chief pollster of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and CEO of public relations firm Burson-Marsteller [www.burson-marsteller.com], whose clients include Diebold [www.diebold.com], manufacturer of the majority of voting machines in America.

United Technologies this week made a sudden buyout offer for the Diebold company, at 66% more than the current stock value. Diebold has refused the offer, but United is insisting that the deal will go through in 60 days, which may evolve into a hostile takeover.

Hmmm. Defense contractor attempts a takeover of the major manufacturer of hackable voting machines with the stated plan of closing the deal before the November national elections.

What could their intention possibly be?