State Governments

Death Penalty Opponents Push to Stall Lethal Injections

*Updated, 2:00 PM

Back when Florida executed prisoners in an electric chair, part of the ritual involved plunging the entire maximum security state prison into total darkness as they switched off the grid and onto backup generators. The purpose of this exercise was to protect Florida Power and Light from possible bad publicity–a …

The Absurdity of Sending Palin’s E-mails Via Snail-Mail

The amount of money the state of Alaska and news organizations are spending on the Sarah Palin e-mails — copying costs, shipping costs (or flight costs), man-hour costs, and opportunity costs — should inspire some skull-clutching. It’s all the more extravagant considering how much of the content has been redacted, how old the e-mails …

Rick Perry’s Jobs Problem, Part II

Governor Rick Perry’s office called in response to my post on his jobs record last week. His spokesperson, Catherine Frazier, wanted to defend Perry’s business-luring tax credit funds, and I’ll get to that below. But first, some more context on the subject of Texas and job creation, which will be central to the 2012 campaign if …

A Favorable Political Season for Rick Perry

Looking a little tired, but still standing tall on the center stage of Texas politics, Governor Rick Perry was triumphant at an Austin press conference Monday. He got most of what he wanted and then some from the regular state …

Brewer’s Vetoes

Arizona’s Republican Governor Jan Brewer became an unlikely firewall for progressives yesterday, vetoing two controversial pieces of legislation passed by the state’s GOP-controlled Congress.

Recall Fever

In this week’s dead-tree issue I have a short piece on the surge in mayoral recall attempts across the country. You can read it here. I mention a couple of reasons for the rise in recalls: cratering confidence in government, the sluggish economy, a strong Tea Party presence that has harnessed the power of blogs and social media, and so …

Boehner’s Choice

John Boehner has a decision to make. And in some ways it’s akin to choosing between his children. By midnight tonight the government will shut down unless an agreement can be reached between the Speaker and President Obama. Whatever Boehner decides will have long-reaching implications for his Speakership.

Ideally, Boehner would have

Mr. Christie Comes to Washington

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took both Republicans and Democrats to task for political cowardice on entitlement reform in his first big Washington speech today at the American Enterprise Institute.

“The President’s not talking about it because he’s waiting for the Republicans in Congress to start talking about it,” said …

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