Despite all the hullaballoo about the potential for voter intimidation on Nov. 2, there is a greater danger to the integrity of the midterms–one that has received far less attention. As I write in a Time.com piece up today:
During next month’s midterm elections, 33 states will allow a few million military and overseas voters to
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A while back, when I was writing a piece about California’s races for Senate and governor, I was struck by how often the candidates talked about their pasts — both boasting about their own and questioning each others’. The pillar of Republican Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina’s résumé is her time in the business world; she speaks often (as …
–Outside spending is up 80 percent from 2006.
–Ben Bernanke inches toward Fed action.
–Jon Ralston calls last night’s Nevada Senate debate for Angle.
–Lisa Murkowski airs her Stevens footage:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OmlkvPJZrk]
–Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin see shades of McCain in Obama’s …
The head of the controversial Office of Congressional Ethics, Leo Wise, announced today he’ll be leaving the office he helped to create to join the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi created the office two years ago in a bid to “drain the swamp” and tighten ethics standards. For decades …
I was struck by this comment by a voter in today’s New York Times account of last night’s U.S. Senate debate in Delaware:
While Mr. Coons had broader range on issues and current events, he sometimes seemed mean-spirited. When Ms. O’Donnell asked whether a company he was connected to would benefit from the clean energy bill, he
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Exactly one week after a federal judge in Michigan ruled that health reform’s individual mandate is constitutional, a federal judge in Florida has decided it may not be. In a decision that clears that way for summary judgement hearing scheduled for Dec. 16, Judge Roger Vinson said the following charges made in the lawsuit have merit and …
For the first time, TIME has assembled a roster of this year’s rising political stars–40 candidates, strategists, leaders and office-holders under 40 years of age. You can check out the list, which includes micro-profiles and honoree interviews, here. Best choice? Worst choice? Who’d we miss?
(Bonus: Time.com has also put together a …
During the George W. Bush years, House Democrats went on a tear about the tendency of Karl Rove’s White House political shop to dispatch federal government employees to appear in the districts of vulnerable Republican members of Congress. Rep. Henry Waxman, then chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee bemoaned …
This was the subject of a report released this morning from David Bositis, one of the nation’s foremost experts on black voter trends, at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington.
Bositis presented a convincing case on how African American voters could make the difference for Democrats, comparing this year …
I have a story online today (and in the print edition, where it looks prettier!) about what’s behind Obama’s showdown with the Chamber of Commerce. Most Swampland readers will know that the recent public fight between Obama and the Chamber–which is running $75 million in political ads this year, the vast majority of them supporting …
Christine O’Donnell cites a rationale for staying in Afghanistan which appears to be influencing both the policy and politics around the debate over that war. As O’Donnell put it in last night’s debate:
A random withdrawal, that [Democratic nominee Chris Coons] has said he supports, will simply embolden the terrorists to come after us
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Las Vegas Sun political guru Jon Ralston is taken aback by a press release from Republican Sharon Angle’s campaign bragging about her astounding $14 million third-quarter fundraising haul. From the Angle release:
This is a testament to the hatred of Harry Reid, the nation’s disapproval of President Obama, and the unprecedented
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This is the best story I have read all morning, by TIME’s Simon Shuster in Moscow. It involves a crushed chessplayer rebellion and a Kremlin puppet who believes Jesus Christ is an alien “and that Earth is set to collide with the planet Nebiru, killing us all, if mankind does not cleanse its ‘aura’ by playing more chess.” And it really …