Primary Structures and Election Results
In State Legislatures Magazine, Lou Jacobson reviews the impact that various different primary election structures may (or may not) have on the types of candidates selected.
Category Archives: political polarization
“Ohio is No Battleground for House Races”
USA Today reports on the absence of pitched partisan contests in the congressional races of the bellwether state of Ohio.
“Independent spending among conservatives shifted from strongly favoring the anti-establishment right in 2012 to favoring establishment conservatives in 2014”
Interesting findings coming from CFI-Brookings primaries conference.
Justice Scalia Praises Gridlock
AP on Justice Scalia speech to Federalist Society in San Diego:
“I hate to hear Americans going around grousing about gridlock,” he explained. “That’s the design of this system, that only really good legislation that has substantial support in the… Continue reading
“Are Republicans really driving congressional polarization? Maybe not.”
“In state Capitol, intransigence gives way to bipartisan deal-making”
Important report from Chris Megerian in the LAT.
What’s really interesting is that Chris does not mention either the top-two primary or citizen redistricting as connected to this new (perhaps temporary) period of bipartisan cooperation. I’ve been skeptical of claims… Continue reading
“Waning Influence, Part 2: Does Congressional Gridlock Lock Up K Street?”
CRP has this analysis of the relationship between lobbying spending and gridlock. A snippet: “[T]the notion that lobbying dollars might flow more freely when Congress is passing many bills, though plausible, is untested. In this report, the second in our … Continue reading
“The New Racism: This is how the civil rights movement ends”
Must read TNR cover story by Jason Zengerle on African American political power in Alabama and in the South.
Similarly, after a lawsuit was brought by the Alabama Democratic Conference and the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus, a three-judge federal court… Continue reading
“Midterms Give Parties Chance for Sweeping Control of States”
“Congress Off for the Exits, but Few Cheer”
NYT:
By traditional measurements, the 113th Congress is now in a race to the bottom with the 112th for the “do nothing” crown, with members of both parties frustrated about the lack of action. As of Wednesday, it had passed… Continue reading
“Don’t expect campaign finance reform to reduce polarization”
Mann and Corrado respond to La Raja and Schaffner.
“Bad Readers: The judges who ruled against Obamacare are following Scalia down a terrible path of interpretation.”
I have written this new Jurisprudence essay for Slate. It begins:
Unless you are a lawyer or a glutton for punishment, you probably want to avoid reading the new D.C. Circuit and 4th Circuit opinions reaching conflicting results on the… Continue reading
“Obamacare Ruling: Congress’s Dysfunction Hands Power to the Courts”
David Wessel:
The appellate court ruling on Obamacare underscores an increasingly important side effect of today’s congressional dysfunction and gridlock: The rising power of the courts, particularly the U.S. Supreme Court. Congress, unable to agree on almost anything, is incapable… Continue reading
“End Partisan Primaries, Save America”
Sen. Schumer endorses Top-Two in NYT oped. The political science does not (at least not yet) seem to support what Sen. Schumer thinks about the effects of top two, however.