via Joel Connelly, San Francisco Chronicle Statewide ballot measures to legalize same-sex marriage took the lead in Washington and passed in Maryland and Maine on Tuesday, as proponents of marriage equality broke a string of 32 consecutive losses in statewide votes on the contentious social issue. Referendum 74 in this state was leading 51.8 percent … Continue reading
via Steve Holland and John Whitesides, Reuters President Barack Obama rolled to re-election and a second term in the White House on Tuesday with a clear victory over Republican challenger Mitt Romney as the Democrat overcame deep doubts about his handling of the U.S. economy. Romney called Obama to concede after the president’s victories in … Continue reading
via William Neuman, The New York Times President Hugo Chávez, long a fiery foe of Washington, won re-election on Sunday, facing down cancer and the strongest electoral challenge of his nearly 14 years in office and gaining a new mandate to deepen his socialist revolution. Though his margin of victory was much narrower than in … Continue reading
Participate. Be heard. VOTE
via Susan Page, USA Today They could turn a too-close-to-call race into a landslide for President Obama— but by definition they probably won’t. Call them the unlikely voters. A nationwide USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll of people who are eligible to vote but aren’t likely to do so finds that these stay-at-home Americans back Obama’s re-election … Continue reading
via Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), San Gabriel Valley Tribune Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, represents California’s 29th Congressional District. Three weeks ago, in a decision all but lost in the tumult over the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act, the Justices overturned a century-old Montana law that prohibited corporate spending in that state’s elections. In … Continue reading
via Justin Sink, The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room Despite widespread speculation that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is one of the top names under consideration for Mitt Romney’s vice presidential nomination, the freshman senator has not been asked to complete any questionnaires or fill out any financial disclosure documents, according to a report by ABC News. … Continue reading
via Len Lazarick, The Chestertown Spy The right and the left agree on a few things about current trends in voting laws: democracy is being threatened by a desire to win elections and wield power. But at panels a mile apart this weekend, the two sides presented very different views of the state of election … Continue reading
via E.J. Dionne, Jr., The Washington Post The left will make a big mistake if it ignores the lessons of the failed recall in Wisconsin of Gov. Scott Walker (R). The right will make an even bigger error if it allows the Wisconsin results to feed its inclination toward winner-take-all politics. The danger on the … Continue reading
via Douglas Belkin and Caroline Porter, The Wall Street Journal Wisconsin voters headed to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker in a bitter dispute over his efforts to curb unions that could affect the presidential race and influence policy toward organized labor nationwide. More than $60 million has flooded … Continue reading
via Venkat Balasubramani and Eric Goldman, ARS Technica This post references a case decided by the US District Court of Eastern Virginia, Bland v. Roberts, 2012 Bland and his cohorts worked in the Hampton Sheriff’s Office, under B.J. Roberts. Roberts ran for re-election against Jim Adams, and the plaintiffs were lukewarm in their support of Roberts. … Continue reading
via Amanda Terkel, The Huffington Post A Wisconsin law that made it easier for victims of wage discrimination to have their day in court was repealed on Thursday, after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) quietly signed the bill. The 2009 Equal Pay Enforcement Act was meant to deter employers from discriminating against certain groups by … Continue reading
via Darius Dixon, Politico Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz fired back Wednesday at Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch’s claim that Democrats would attack Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith in the fall election, saying the charge was “nonsense” and that the issue of religion was off-limits. “That is just preposterous,” the Florida Democrat, who chairs the Democratic National Committee, … Continue reading
via Bryan Curtis, Slate Eric Fehrnstrom Talks GOP Candidates & Etch A Sketch If Mitt Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom, the man behind the Etch A Sketch gaffe, is having a dark night of the soul, he ought to call Steve Schmidt. Schmidt was John McCain’s senior strategist—aka the man who OK’d Sarah Palin and presided over a … Continue reading
via The Huffington Post Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) found himself in hot water over the weekend for a controversial comment he made regarding Democrat Tammy Duckworth’s military service, and attempted Monday to explain his words, though didn’t offer an apology for them. The congressman stirred up controversy on Thursday by seeming to belittle the service … Continue reading
via The Huffington Post A recall election was officially ordered Friday against embattled first-term Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker after more than 900,000 signatures were collected on petitions to force a vote. The Government Accountability Board voted 5-0 to order the recall, a move that has been expected for weeks given the high number of signatures … Continue reading
via Kristen Mack, WGN Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth won the Democratic primary last night in the 8th Congressional District. Duckworth had 66 percent of the vote to 34 percent for Raja Krishnamoorthi, a former deputy state treasurer with about 60 percent of the vote in. A Krishnamoorthi spokesman said the candidate conceded defeat. Duckworth … Continue reading
via Amanda Terkel, The Huffington Post Activists pushing to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) announced on Monday evening that they have collected more than 300,000 signatures for the effort in just 12 days. To trigger a recall election, Walker’s opponents — coordinated by the group United Wisconsin — need to collect 540,208 valid signatures … Continue reading
via Tony Karon, Time The ignominious end of Col. Muammar Gaddafi may mark a milestone of liberation beyond the wildest dreams and prayers of his long-suffering people just a short year ago, but it also represents a huge headache for Libya’s fragile transitional rulers: Gone is the common enemy that bound together a diverse and often fractious … Continue reading
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. (R) slammed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) on his foreign policy experience and Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and the rest of the Republican presidential field for being anti-science. Huntsman, who most recently served as the Obama administration’s ambassador to China, has been focusing his attacks on Romney … Continue reading
Democracy may get a whole new look when it comes to presidential politics in 2012. The Electoral College will still bring the next commander in chief to the White House, but tweaks to the system could change the rules of the game. After the 2000 election recount drama, polling showed that most Americans wanted to … Continue reading
Republicans who are mainly interested in making sure their party wins the 2012 presidential election would seem to face a catch-22. The man who currently leads the GOP race in national polls, Rick Perry, has a history of making reckless and inflammatory statements about Social Security — enough to raise serious questions about whether nominating … Continue reading
A battle over Social Security launched last week between the top two GOP presidential contenders doesn’t show any signs of quieting down as candidates prepare for round two at the first-ever CNN/Tea Party Republican Debate on Monday night. The debate, being held at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, will also give the six other … Continue reading
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Iowa) believes Social Security, while troubled, needs to be retained for current beneficiaries and future generations. The presidential candidate said Friday that while the program is “in trouble,” the federal government has made a commitment to senior citizens that it must keep. “The United States made a decision 80 years ago about … Continue reading
The full-throated sparring between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry during the Republican debate on Wednesday night provided an early glimpse of the very different strategies that will propel their presidential campaigns forward in the next several months. Mr. Perry, the governor of Texas, made clear in his first national appearance that he would campaign as … Continue reading