"I'm friends with Ed Rendell, too," an angry Weldon continued. "But I've go to call a pig a pig. I've got to call something the way it is. To me it's purely partisan. This is about Pennsylvania being a very close state."

Asked point blank if he though Rendell was trying to "disenfranchise" military voters in his state, Weldon told Hannity: "That's exactly what he's doing. I have soldiers e-mailing me from overseas ... Marines coming up to me saying, 'I have friends who haven't got their absentee ballot.'"

Asked how many prisoners would take advantage of Gov. Rendell's absentee ballot outreach, Weldon said, "I have no idea."

Surveys show that two-thirds of active-duty military back President Bush, while the same proportion of the prison population supports John Kerry.

In announcing his decision to seek an extension for military voters, Rendell said Friday, "I've decided that one military or civilian overseas [voter] not getting a ballot in time is too much."

Rendell served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the 2000 election.

Editor's note: