“How did the DNC fall into a fundraising hole so deep as to need a life-line from the Clinton campaign to begin with?”
Dan Weiner on Donna Brazile and the DNC.
Category Archives: political parties
Populism and Democratic Institutional Design: Methods of Selecting Candidates for Chief Executive in the United States and Other Democracies
As part of the critique I’ve been developing in recent years (e.g., here) over the excessively populist direction of a number of post-1960s political “reforms,” I have turned my attention to raising questions about changes we’ve made to the… Continue reading
ELB Podcast Episode 19. Tom Mann and Norm Ornstein: Trumpism, and America, After Trump
What is the connection between Republican Party extremism before Trump and the rise of Trump? What kinds of economic and political reforms can best preserve American democracy? What will life after Trump, and Trumpism, look like in the United States?… Continue reading
“Issue One raises concerns about Democratic Party’s new mega joint fundraising committee”
Release:
On Thursday, Politico reported the formation of a new mega joint fundraising committee called the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund. This joint fundraising committee will solicit contributions to benefit the Democratic National Committee, as well as state parties in all… Continue reading
“Bannon expands his list of Senate Republican targets for 2018”
CNN covers the expanding GOP civil war.
“The Democratic Party’s nomination process isn’t democratic enough”
Ron Klain:
That means, first, abolishing caucuses and using only primaries to pick convention delegates. (One exception can be made for the iconic Iowa caucuses.) The selection of a president should not be limited to those voters able to attend… Continue reading
“Has the Top Two Primary Elected More Moderates?”
Eric McGhee and Bors Shor in Perspectives on Politics:
Party polarization is perhaps the most significant political trend of the past several decades of American politics. Many observers have pinned hopes on institutional reforms to reinvigorate the political center. The… Continue reading
Today’s Must-Read: “How Party Bosses, Not Voters, Pick Politicians in New York”
Great Shane Goldmacher in the NYT:
For decades, New York seats have traded hands this way in what amounts to one of the last, most powerful vestiges of Tammany Hall-style politics in the state. Election laws here grant politicians… Continue reading
Utah: “Gov. Herbert wishes GOP would drop lawsuit challenging new election law”
Salt Lake Tribune:
Gov. Gary Herbert wished aloud Thursday that the Utah Republican Party would drop its lawsuit challenging the state’s new election law, which is driving a wedge between the party’s right wing and moderates.
But he concedes that… Continue reading
“We need political parties. But their rabid partisanship could destroy American democracy.”
Lee Drutman for Vox.
Today’s Must-Read: “A judge, a Vegas phone call and the NC GOP legislative effort to remake the judicial branch”
Anne Blythe’s News and Observer piece begins:
Doug McCullough was five months away from his deadline for mandatory retirement from the state Court of Appeals bench when the chairman of the state Republican Party gave him a call.
Democrat… Continue reading
“Networking the Party: First Amendment Rights & the Pursuit of Responsive Party Government”
Tabatha Abu El-Haj has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This Article argues that the Supreme Court’s party jurisprudence is predicated on a set of theoretical assumptions that do not hold true in the real world of… Continue reading
The End of the Blue Slip Looks Like It’s Coming for Circuit Court Nominees
This is expected, and it will mean a big shift in the courts to the right.
“Why American Democracy Is Broken, and How to Fix It”
Jeet Heer in TNR:
Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, wondered in a 2013 article whether this called for drastic measures: “The partisanship of our political branches and the mismatch with our structure of government raise… Continue reading