Parties wage loud battle over alleged efforts to intimidate voters.(The Dallas Morning News)

Byline: Todd J. Gillman

ORLANDO, Fla. _ A few months ago, a state policeman came to the home of 80-year-old Charlie Mae Thomas. Seems she had voted absentee in the local mayoral race. The officer was white, and armed. She, like pretty much everyone else in her neighborhood, is black.

He had some questions. Did she intend to vote by mail? Did anyone prepare the ballot? He was polite, she says, and soon went away.

Was this a legitimate crackdown on potential fraud, or an effort to discourage reliably Democratic voters?

In the hothouse atmosphere of Florida politics, the parties have spent weeks trading accusations of cheating, fraud and intimidation. Democrats say the Republican governor _ whose brother is president _ has conspired to suppress minority turnout, and some call the west Orlando incident part of that pattern.

Republicans say Democrats have trumped up complaints to prod voters to the polls.

The pattern will continue through Election Day, and perhaps beyond. Lawsuits over ballots, registrations and voting machines are already piling up, and not just in Florida. Both parties have recruited armies of lawyers _ 10,000 apiece or more nationwide, some to challenge voters, ...