Roll Call reports on opposition to the party funding rider among House Democrats. Bloomberg BNA ($) says that Rep. Pelosi wants it out. NYT reports that Democratic opposition to the bill has hardened due to the relaxation of campaign finance and Dodd-Frank restrictions. … Continue reading
Dan Tokaji
The Fix looks at the data. … Continue reading
AP reports. … Continue reading
AP reports that the court “lifted the stay it had imposed after reviewing a petition filed by incumbent Democrat Ray Powell over concerns his campaign had with the procedures for the recount” and that the recount will start Thursday. … Continue reading
A state court judge has reportedly denied plaintiffs’ request to stop certification of results in the case, which seeks the counting of 4600 ballots rejected on the ground that the voters’ signatures didn’t match their registrations. … Continue reading
FairVote Blog finds that of the “202.5 million votes to elect the current Senate, spread across three election cycles in 2010, 2012, and 2014 …. 49% were cast for Democratic candidates and 46.6% for Republicans.” … Continue reading
NYT reports. … Continue reading
On The Fix. … Continue reading
Partly due to the loosening of party funding regulations according to Politico. … Continue reading
Bloomberg: “Conservative Republicans in Iowa have a warning for wealthy party fundraisers who might like to use their clout to slim down the 2016 presidential primary field: It won’t work. Money matters, but it doesn’t take much of it to be … Continue reading
ChapinBlog. … Continue reading
CPI reports: “Sean Noble — a political consultant who was chosen by the Koch brothers to quarterback their political efforts, and who signed the Center to Protect Patient Rights’ tax return disclosing the contribution under penalty of perjury — is … Continue reading
Bloomberg Politics: “No sooner had the 2014 election ended than some of the nation’s biggest trade organizations and businesses moved to give campaign contributions to incoming members of Congress through their political action committees….” … Continue reading
The letter to Senators is here. … Continue reading
CCP has posted this version showing changes that the bill would make to existing contribution limits. … Continue reading
At Concurring Opinions, the sixth installment of “Posner on Posner,” much of it on campaign finance. Snippets: Question: Is speech overprotected by our courts and in our culture? Posner: I think so. The most notorious example is expenditures on political advertising … Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA on the Cromnibus party funding rider: “The unexpected addition of a provision to sharply increase campaign contribution limits for political parties to a must-pass government funding bill is being blasted by supporters of campaign regulation, as some call on … Continue reading
Analyses from Politico, WaPo, HuffPost,The Hill, and Business Insider of the rider that was added yesterday. Politico calculates that the provision “would dramatically increase the amount of money a single rich donor could give to national party committees each year — from … Continue reading
The complaint in Utah Republican Party v. Herbert alleges that SB 54, which changed the process for nominating candidates — ostensibly to “open” the electoral system — violates the party’s associational rights. In addition to its constitutional claim, the party alleges that the … Continue reading
Politico reports. … Continue reading
Eric Wang of the Center for Competitive Politics has submitted these comments to the IRS on the regulation of political activities by tax-exempt organizations. … Continue reading
The Upshot. … Continue reading
The Bipartisan Policy Center event, entitled “Making Ohio’s Electoral System a National Model,” will take place here at Ohio State from 10-12 ET. Click here to watch. Secretary of State Jon Husted is the featured speaker, joined by Herb Asher, Ned Foley, … Continue reading
Here’s the text of the provision unveiled late yesterday (h/t Ray LaRaja), amending 52 U.S.C. 30116 to raise limits on contributions to parties for conventions, headquarters, and recounts. SEC. 101. SEPARATE CONTRIBUTION LIMITS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS MADE TO NATIONAL PARTIES TO SUPPORT PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATING CONVENTIONS, NATIONAL PARTY HEADQUARTERS … Continue reading
Approximately 187,000 ballots are being recounted, according to this report, in a race where Democratic incumbent Ron Barber trailed Republican Martha McSally by 161 votes before the recount. The Arizona Republic provides some historical perspective here, comparing it to other … Continue reading
Peter Overby reports: “Capitol Hill lawmakers agreed Tuesday afternoon on a small provision to be added to the omnibus spending bill, allowing the two party committees to raise money for their presidential nominating conventions. The limit per donor would be … Continue reading
From COGEL, BNA Bloomberg reports that the number of registered federal lobbyists appears to be holding steady at around 12,500, down from a peak of 15,000 in 2007. … Continue reading
San Diego U-T reports on the contest, in which two votes separate the candidates. … Continue reading
The new opinion, like the one issued in October, sides with the Texas Democratic Party in rejecting constitutional challenges to state campaign finance laws, including corporate contribution restrictions. … Continue reading
Greg Sargent at WaPo on the structural difficulties Democrats face in taking back the U.S. House: “[E]ven in … big swing states [Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina] Republicans have large majorities in the state legislatures — a holdover from 2010 redistricting on the … Continue reading
The Toledo Blade reports here on the possibility of a vote this week on a bipartisan redistricting reform proposal. The Ohio House approved a joint resolution last week. If the two chambers agree, the proposed constitutional amendment would go before voters. … Continue reading
Tampa Bay Times reports: “The Florida Supreme Court on Monday thrust into the limelight yet another secret email that reveals the role of political consultants in the redistricting process that could have bearing on the pending lawsuit over Senate redistricting.” … Continue reading
Bloomberg News on yesterday’s NYT story that Republican mega-donors are discussing whether to coalesce behind a single “establishment” candidate. Newt Gingrich: “It’s a disastrously bad idea and it won’t happen.” … Continue reading
On The Upshot, Derek Willis analyzes data on Super PAC activity in the 2014 election cycle, and finds: “[T]hey have expanded their activities far beyond the original model. In what is a perfectly legal maneuver in many states, they are at … Continue reading
Bob Bauer has this post on Michael Malbin’s “Third Approach” to Party Coordination. … Continue reading
Roll Call: “An effort to ease limits on spending by party committees was among the late lingering issues as negotiations continued on legislation to keep the government funded past Thursday.” … Continue reading
Oguzhan Dincer and Michael Johnston of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics Corruption at Harvard have posted results from a survey of reporters on their perceptions of corruption in their states. The survey asked about both illegal corruption (defined as … Continue reading
The Hill reports. Senators McCain and Graham are among those urging a return to the 60-vote requirement for cloture on nominations, while Senator Hatch is among those who favor keeping the current rule requiring only a simple majority. Senator McConnell, the incoming majority … Continue reading
Matea Gold and Tom Hamburger for WaPo: Efforts by potential Republican presidential candidates to win over wealthy donors have set off a series of contests for their support that could stall the GOP race for months. In Florida, allies of … Continue reading
Politico reports: The Republican Party’s top operatives — including strategists representing the Koch brothers’ political operation and several leading prospective 2016 presidential candidates – on Monday huddled behind closed doors to discuss how to synchronize their sometimes competing tech efforts, … Continue reading
WaPo: “Democrats are pressing Loudoun County officials to make it easier for absentee voting in next month’s special election to replace Virginia state delegate Barbara Comstock — a fight they’re unlikely to win, and which shows how close the race … Continue reading
The Arizona Republic and AP report on of Friday’s decision by U.S. District Judge James Teilborg, striking down the state’s “political committee” definition. The Arizona attorney general reportedly plans to seek a stay. Update: Institute for Justice, which represents plaintiff Dina Galassini, has this … Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA ($) reports from COGEL: “Four years after super political action committees were first created by court rulings and Federal Election Commission advisory opinions, the rules for these increasingly powerful, big-money players in the political arena remain murky, especially on … Continue reading
From Oregon comes news of a state lawsuit alleging that more than 4600 ballots have been wrongly rejected on the ground that voters’ signatures on ballot envelopes don’t match those on file. These votes could conceivably be enough to swing the result … Continue reading
The 2014 version is available for download here. … Continue reading
Jerry Goldfeder has this piece on Law.com, advising the presumptive presidential candidate to pay more attention to delegate attention rules this time. No doubt she will. … Continue reading
If you’re going for a long walk this time of year, might as well do it in Florida (h/t Steve Kolbert @Pronounce_the_T). … Continue reading
NYT: “Dozens of the Republican Party’s leading presidential donors and fund-raisers have begun privately discussing how to clear the field for a single establishment candidate to carry the party’s banner in 2016, fearing that a prolonged primary would bolster Hillary … Continue reading
At HuffPost. … Continue reading
Techwire has this interview. … Continue reading