In Louisiana. With a throwback proposal at the end: “Several years ago, the Old State Capitol held an old-time political event that cut out the bureaucracy of deciding who should or shouldn’t be allowed to debate. The OST sponsored… Continue reading

On this morning’s Morning Edition.

Yet another reason we only post snippets.

Not least, because of redistricting. The article shows some intriguing realpolitik: even though Michigan’s process, on paper, has no direct role for the courts, the report states that “[w]hichever party in Michigan holds the governorship and the most… Continue reading

We’ve been following the Ohio Bush v. Gore lawsuit over absentee ballots and postage. Now here’s a hint of the politics behind it. A snippet: “Strickland’s camp conceded weeks ago that he would probably lose if Ohio still had only… Continue reading

NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has collected (and categorized) the political spending and disclosure policies of the 100 largest U.S. corporations, here. He’s also doing a little advocacy of his own on the site; Holzman Vogel is not … Continue reading

The 2010 APSA annual meeting is now over. Associated with this roundtable, entitled “What Can Political Science Offer Journalists?”, Marc Ambinder offers some interesting thoughts.

I suspect that this is quite common.

Dueling op-eds (including one by Dan Lowenstein) on the upcoming dueling initiatives to change California’s redistricting procedure. I’ve described the status quo here.

Speaking of ways to address spoilers, for the first time “in the modern era,” instant-runoff voting will decide the winner of a statewide general election — for NC Court of Appeals judge.

Ostensible third-party candidates with ties to major-party figures, seeking ballot lines allegedly to act as spoilers. “Tea Party” candidates were thrown off the ballot in Michigan (h/t: Brad Smith), and “Green” candidates are apparently on the ballot (so far) in… Continue reading

A repost (with permission) of an email from Brad Smith to the listserv follows. The point with respect to states that had prohibited corporate expenditures, and now have no structure for tracking them, is particularly important: “From Ohio, the Ohio… Continue reading

Los Angeles Times: “Whitman demonstrates the power of her money.” A snippet: “With nine weeks left until election day, Whitman has donated $104 million of her own money to the campaign, more than any other candidate in California history… Continue reading

Michigan has apparently entered into a consent decree permitting corporate contributions to independent expenditure committees, converting this preliminary injunction into a permanent one. This comes on the heels of Thalheimer v. City of San Diego and the FEC’s Commonsense … Continue reading