John C. Breckinridge was Vice President of the United States in 1860, when he ran for the presidency as the nominee of Southern Democrats, who had split from the northern wing of the party (which nominated Stephen Douglas). Lincoln… Continue reading

Interesting paper showing turnout effects during Jim Crow from Confederate monuments. Here’s the abstract: Confederate monuments have become central to modern debates over racism and discrimination in America. In this paper, I explore the contemporaneous socio-political effects of Confederate monuments… Continue reading

Newsday reports on last-minute move by New York’s legislature, which now moves to the governor.

N.Y. Times: ‘But the mistrust of early voting that Mr. Trump planted still permeates the G.O.P., leaving many holdouts among election deniers, who called the acceptance of mail-in ballots misguided. “They are 100 percent wrong,” Mike Lindell, the MyPillow… Continue reading

USA Today. In addition to the disciplinary proceedings discussed in this article, there is also the pending matter involving John Eastman.

N.Y. Times report: “On Capitol Hill and in the courts, Republican lawmakers and activists are mounting a sweeping legal campaign against universities, think tanks and private companies that study the spread of disinformation, accusing them of colluding with the… Continue reading

Carol Leaning and Aaron Davis in a Washington Post must-read. Some excerpts: “… Sherwin, senior Justice Department officials and Paul Abbate, the top deputy to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, quashed a plan by prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office… Continue reading

This Washington Post story is an important cautionary tale. In Arlington County, Virginia, the Democratic primary for two seats on the county board is using a multi-winner form of RCV (a system when employed elsewhere is sometimes called the “single… Continue reading

Jonathan Chait in the Intelligencer, discussing the twin threats to Biden from Cornel West and No Labels. Interesting comparison at the end of the piece to Truman in 1948, who also faced splintering from two different sides: Strom Thurmond… Continue reading

AP in The Hill. “By setting South Carolina’s vote on Feb. 24, … candidates would have more time after Nevada votes on Feb. 6 to focus their attention on the state.” Meanwhile, “Biden’s plan [is] to strip Iowa’s caucus of… Continue reading

POLITICO reviews what’s happening on this front, which is a mixture that the story sums up as “a side hug more than a bear hug … a half-hearted embrace”: “Notably, no committee chairs or party leaders participated in the biggest… Continue reading

The Hill has an interesting story detailing significant developments already, including an important comparison between two dueling ads from the Trump and DeSantis campaigns: “After DeSantis announced his campaign during a Twitter Spaces conversation with company CEO Elon Musk, Trump… Continue reading

Important, comprehensive analysis by Dan Balz and colleagues in the Washington Post. One brief excerpt: “Many of Trump’s critics wish that through the legal process, the former president were somehow disqualified from serving again as president. The counterargument to… Continue reading