Category Archives: political parties

A war within the Republican party?

June 15, 2015, 10:09 amcampaign finance, campaigns, election law and constitutional law, political parties, UncategorizedCampaign finance, political parties, shadow partiesHeather Gerken

Coauthored with Joseph Fishkin, University of Texas Law School A recent story perfectly embodied the central puzzle in a paper that we recently published in the Supreme Court Review. The story tells about the war between the Koch brothers… Continue reading

“The Party as Database”

June 11, 2015, 1:39 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, political partiesRick Hasen

Jack Balkin: Last year, in my essay The Last Days of Disco: Why the American Political System is Dysfunctional, I explained that modern American political parties were turning into databases connected to fundraising operations. The two major political… Continue reading

“It’s Nothing Personal: The Decline of the Incumbency Advantage in US House Elections”

June 9, 2015, 7:36 pmcampaigns, political parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

New Gary Jacobson in the Journal of Politics. Here is the abstract: With little fanfare, the electoral advantage enjoyed by US representatives has fallen over the past several elections to levels not seen since the 1950s. The incumbency advantage has… Continue reading

“The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is the Other Party”

June 4, 2015, 7:25 ampolitical parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

Alan I. Abramowitz and Steven Webster write.

“This astonishing chart shows how moderate Republicans are an endangered species”

June 2, 2015, 11:52 ampolitical parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

Must-read by Christopher Ingraham, with great data from the Poole-Rosenthal numbers. Political scientists have known for years that political polarization is largely a one-sided phenomenon: in recent decades the Republican Party has moved to the right much faster than Democrats… Continue reading

“Sanders could face N.Y. primary ballot struggle”

May 29, 2015, 7:47 ampolitical parties, primariesRick Hasen

Capital NY.

“Parties Coming to More Agreement (Just Not on Who Deserves Credit)”

May 5, 2015, 7:32 amlegislation and legislatures, political parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

Carl Hulse NYT analysis.

“Potential roadblock for Bernie Sanders rises in New Hampshire”

April 30, 2015, 12:06 pmballot access, campaigns, political parties, primariesRick Hasen

CNN reports. MORE from Weigel.

“State high court quickly ousts Shirley Abrahamson as chief justice”

April 29, 2015, 4:59 pmjudicial elections, political parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

No surprise in Wisconsin.

“Recommended Reforms to California’s Top Two”

April 27, 2015, 7:20 amalternative voting systems, political parties, primariesRick Hasen

FairVote.

“How ‘Negative Partisanship’ Has Transformed American Politics”

April 17, 2015, 2:39 pmpolitical parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

Jonathan Chiat: Emory political scientists Alan Abramowitz and Steven Webster have a new paper, not yet available online, exploring the nature of the new polarization. The paper is filled with interesting findings, but the major one is an attempt… Continue reading

“Democrats Keep Lead in Party Identification”

April 12, 2015, 8:45 pmpolitical parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

Nate Cohn analysis at NYT’s The Upshot.

The Political Safeguards of Horizontal Federalism

March 20, 2015, 10:03 amelection law and constitutional law, guest blogging election law scholarship, political parties, political polarization, theory, Uncategorizedfederalism, PoliticsHeather Gerken

Over at Balkinization, I’ve been blogging (here, here, here, and here) about the benefits associated with spillovers, which occur when one state’s policies affect citizens of another state. Most of those arguments have to do… Continue reading

“McConnell Makes Changes, but Senate Gridlock Remains”

March 20, 2015, 7:40 amlegislation and legislatures, political parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

NYT: WASHINGTON — When he became majority leader, propelled by sweeping Republican victories last year, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky vowed to run a more productive and traditional Senate than his Democratic predecessor, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. In… Continue reading