Many books will be written about the stolen presidential election of 2000. And when they are, one prominent factor will be the Republicans systematic and extra-legal effort to reduce black voting, details of which are just now being pieced together. Black turnout was way up this year, and nowhere more dramatically than in Florida. Black […]
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Supreme Court Dispatch:
The U.S. Supreme Court did not allow cameras in the courtroom, but they were definitely allowed outside. So as the lawyers wrangled inside, protesters staged made-for-TV-protests outside. For the first time in at least a week, this morning’s mob outside the Supreme Court roughly resembled the mob vote on Election Day — it was equally […]
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The Two-Party System is Letting us Down
This year voting turnout could fall to a record presidential low. The decline partly reflects two dreadful candidates but also the long-term impoverishment of politics. Membership organizations have been displaced by professional fund-raisers and TV spots. The time squeeze leaves no leisure for ordinary people to go to meetings. Civic values are crowded out by […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Turnout Imperative
Low voter participation favors conservatives. If liberals want to avoid a reprise of 1994 in 1998, they have to make turnout a top priority — and fortunately some are already hard at work.
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Trial Heat:
Wendy Kaminer Choice: Senator Bob Kerrey, Senator John Kerry, Senator Tom Daschle, or Senator John Edwards Present a group of lawyers with a political question and they will approach it strategically, focusing on finding the most feasible, acceptable answer, a professional facilitator once told me. Present a group of […]
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Flunking the Electoral College?
Should the United States abolish or alter the Electoral College system? If so, what should replace it? 12.18.00 Michael Nelson | Representative James Clyburn | Walter Berns | Representative William Delahunt | James R. Whitson Michael Nelson: End It The Electoral College was no one’s first choice at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Various delegates […]
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Papa, Don’t Preach
A ccording to the Voter News Service numbers, Al Gore beat George W. Bush among 18- to 29-year-old voters by a mere 2 percentage points (48 to 46), a gigantic drop in this age group from Bill Clinton’s 19-point margin over Bob Dole in 1996 (53 to 34) and 11-point margin over George Bush the […]
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Of Our Time: A Liberal Dunkirk?
H as the Clinton presidency been a grave setback for liberalism? Or a necessary, if wrenching, re-centering? We have debated this question in our pages, and historians will long argue the issue. One must await the results of the 1996 election to provide a more complete answer. However, here is a look at both sides […]
Posted inEconomic Policy
Controversy: Clean Elections Continued
O ne might have thought (or at least hoped) that the revelations of scandalous fundraising practices in the 1996 campaign would improve prospects for enacting much-needed reforms, much as tales of the outrageous behavior by the Committee to Reelect the President provided the impetus for the last major rewrite of campaign finance law in 1974. […]
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Motor Voter or Motivated Voter?
The Motor Voter law was supposed to dramatically increase turnout and give marginalized groups more voice in politics. Unfortunately, getting these groups to register doesn’t do any good if you don’t give them reason to vote.
