Wayne Williams: Voters are ready for Fair Elections — the elections that money can’t buy. In an October 2009 survey, likely June 2010 voters supported the California Fair Elections Act by a nearly 3-1 margin.

Florida’s 22nd Congressional district is where Allen West, a former lieutenant colonel who was drummed out of the Army for torturing an Iraqi prisoner by holding a mock execution after allowing men under his command to repeatedly beat the detainee, has the GOP endorsement to run for Congress in 2010

Under our system, as you have probably noticed, almost all political resources go to candidates and their advertising campaigns. Granted, a lot of money is required to run for office but a more sound approach would involve party building especially on a local level; party building not so much for elections but for issue campaigns.

New York City provides a case study of a large, ethnically diverse, California-like entity where citizen ballot measures are not an option. The result? A profoundly undemocratic city where large real estate developers call the shots.

Change-Congress.org says –
Special interests pump millions of dollars into elections, giving them more influence over our political system than the rest of us. Until we fix our broken campaign finance laws, these special interests will …

Happy Independence Day, on the eve of which we’ve been reminded that we are FAR from declaring our national independence from the Sarah Palin addiction.
After watching her rambling, disjointed “W-T-F Moment” as she announced she’s …

During the last weekend of April I attended the annual convention of the California Democratic Party. In much of the convention we heard various state and federal office holders deliver speeches, some of which were …

Like it or not, knuckle-draggers: Science is back IN.
As a life-long Catholic, I couldn’t be more delighted. I’m sure the airwaves and the cable channels will soon be wall-to-wall with conservatives and Republicans and other …

Mr. Bush, you shouldn’t have bothered. It wouldn’t have mattered what you said on your last Thursday evening as White House occupant. I’m sure many Americans did tune in out of curiosity as to how …

Third time’s a charm, maybe?
I’ve compiled three of these lists now. In 2006, I issued the first one, looking back on everything George W. Bush has adversely affected since he first arrived in the Oval …

All of the candidates have released medical information to the American people stating they are fit to serve, that is, all except Sarah Palin. There has been a flurry of questions buzzing around the …

by Charley James –
It might be the supreme, ironic, twist of Republicans efforts to keep people from voting. It turns out that Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher – the infamous Joe the Plumber – may not be …

To underscore that voting third party or not voting at all will help elect McCain and Palin, and thereby re-empower the self-righteous ideologues who berated progressives, liberals, democrats, greens, libertarians, etc., for the past 8 …

It is widely known that Barack Obama decided to forgo public financing for his general election campaign, while John McCain chose to accept it. This reflects Obama’s greater success in fund-raising, and it also represents …

I suppose when the Republican vice presidential candidate is discovered spending $150,000 on a campaign wardrobe, it’s hard for the GOP to remember being shocked – Shocked, I tell you! – over John Edwards’ $400 …

The most respected public figure in, or out, of American government endorsed Barack Obama this week. To even suggest that the endorsement of former Secretary of State, former National Security Adviser, former Joint Chiefs of …

With less than two weeks until polls open for the 2008 election, the consensus is that Barack Obama is headed for a decisive victory. In the Electoral College, he is likely to win about two …

Six days ago, I wrote about how a solid contact inside the McCain campaign explained to me what’s left for McCain (in the remaining days of the election battle after his terrible performance in the …

The arrest of California Republican Party voter registration consultant Mark Jacoby, owner of Young Political Majors (YPM), in connection with massive voter registration fraud marks one step toward bringing these criminals to justice.

Credit where it’s due, what little Sarah Palin did on last night’s Saturday Night Live was funny, and who knew the Lipsticked Pitbull could groove like that? All the mav’ricks in the house put …

It’s time for fairness, dammit. We have heard all we need to know about Barack Obama and Bill Ayers (really – there isn’t much to know). When will John McCain open up about the true …

With just two weeks to go, it’s clear that the 2008 presidential campaign is in it’s final phase: the kamikaze phase. This is the only conclusion I can reach after hearing McCain and Palin …

There was a time in America when a newspaper’s editorial endorsement of a candidate affected the way some of its readers voted. In the days before 24-hour cable news, daily tracking polls, snap surveys and …

Yesterday Barack Obama spoke at a rally in St. Louis, Missouri attracting 100,000 people. Awesome!
And this morning on Meet the Press, Colin Powell gave an eloquent empassioned declaration of support for Barack Obama. Powell’s message …

Senator McCain’s finger-pointing, no-look reference to Senator Obama during the October 7th presidential debate as “That One” was more than odd. It was, as most detected, a manifestation of disrespect. What commentators have …

Election Day is less than a month away. We’ve all heard more than enough about Sarah “Pitbull” Palin but most of us still aren’t sure how to vote on many of the propositions, judicial …

I was going to start out by calling the second Presidential Candidates’ Debate between Barack Obama and John McCain a “running out the clock” affair for Obama. Basically a draw – no big wins or …

On Saturday, I went to Carson, California, to attend a rally for Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. For those who aren’t familiar with the city of Carson, it’s approximately 19 miles south of downtown …

Barack Obama is a formidable candidate for President. And he’s our candidate: a Democrat, a liberal, and a progressive; intelligent and mature with a Chicago-style political savvy.

My deep, sincere apologies to The Beatles for turning the title of their wonderfully hopeful song Here Comes The Sun on its head, especially to use it in describing the only tactics left to save …

My European Union media colleagues have a hard time understanding that daily national tracking polls mean little. On November 4th, voters will enter and cast ballots in 50 statewide winner-takes-all contests.
There are 538 electoral votes …

Alright, so it’s been an unpredictable election year. When the primaries began, Hillary Clinton was the heavy favorite and John McCain was all but dead in the water with Fred Thompson’s entry in the race …

Could Sarah Palin really be a Walt Disney creation? At some point the comparisons between her and perky Mouseketeer Annette are hard to push out of consciousness. Annette learned her lines and recited them with …

As usual, post-debate bloviating wandered aimlessly through the night with assessments ranging from “she did better than we thought she would,” which is what parents say when their kid doesn’t strike out at a Little …

I had help with this one. I watched Joe Biden and Sarah Palin square off, on CNN, specifically for that network’s audience meters. In this case, it was a group of undecided voters in Ohio, …

Since McCain chose the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, as his vice-presidential pick, there has been bantering and bickering from the distaff side of our American electorate.
The catfight from female electorates of both political parties …

Reagan’s America is dead.
If not dead, it lies fallen on a US economy near ruin. The recent collapse of several financial giants and the extreme concentration of wealth in a few hands have reached levels …

by Charley James –

Despite numerous calls from serious conservative columnists over the last week for John McCain to drop Sarah Palin from the Republican ticket, she’s not going anywhere regardless of her debate performance.

by Anthony Asadullah Samad –

Watching the first presidential debate involving the first African American major party nominee was historic. But the aftermath was less than euphoric. By all accounts, Barack Obama won the debate. He …

I went to Orange County this Sunday to see if a church would deliberately jeopardize its tax-exempt status by endorsing or disparaging a person seeking elective office. It most certainly did. If we lived in …

The first televised generational arm-wrestling match is over. For the right was John McCain, the Grand Ol’ Party’s Grand Ol’ Man. An Ol’ Dear at Ol’ Miss. I bet the GOP wishes that Old wasn’t …

“Daddy needs a new pair of shoes!” and the dice cubes fly.
John McCain loves craps. It is routine for him to wager and lose $25,000 in a session as to play the “suspend the campaign …

Shortly after the Katie Couric-Sarah Palin interview, a slew of reports hit the Internet assessing the VP candidate’s performance. Try as I might, I was hard pressed to find a single report that looked …

Living in the Eastern Time zone, it was well after midnight before I got to bed after watching the debate and flipping the dial to see what the Commentariat would pronounce as post-debate truth, wisdom, …

You’d have to be on a media fast to have missed journalist/blogger/commentator David Sirota on TV (Stephen Colbert, CNN, Fox News[!]), radio (NPR, Pacifica) and in the pages of Newsweek and The New Republic earlier …

I’m mixed.
Who won? They both did. And didn’t.
Here’s what strikes me about the opening round of presidential debate season: the one-liners, the facts (or not), the jabs, the international names and one mispronunciation, the energy, …

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis (at left) seems to have truthiness problems. At least he cannot remember when or if he left the lobbying firm he was or is it still is a partner in.
Jill …

“As a candidate, John (McCain) has become a walking disaster,” the distraught voice calling from a Washington suburb told me late Thursday night. “As much as I once believed in him, now I’m really worried …

I’ve finally found a positive quality Sarah Palin might bring to the vice presidency: She would be the first veep guaranteed to be witchcraft-free, thanks to Rev. Thomas Muthee.
This would be a refreshing change from …

They say if you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump right out. But if you put it into a pot of cozy, lukewarm water, and then slowly turned up …

I don’t understand.
As Juan Cole notes this morning, Republicans came to Washington in 2000 with a solid majority in both houses of Congress and on the Supreme Court, allowing them to steal the presidency. If …

Throughout the primaries we heard, “it’s 8:00 pm in the east, polls have closed, CNN can now declare with 1% of the ballots counted, Senator Barack Obama is the winner of the South Carolina Primary.”
99% …

In our ongoing immersion into all things political, we held the first fundraiser in our home last Saturday. We’re not exactly social butterflies, so the idea of having dozens of folks over for Stella, Brie, …

Yesterday, I heard way too many women rave about Sarah Failin’ as the new Face of Feminism. Upset, I slept poorly, but awoke today refreshed. I had an epiphany. I think this woman is on …

by Joseph Palermo –
In the late 19th century, in Chicago, a grassroots organization founded by Jane Addams (shown here) gave rise to Hull House where educated women worked to alleviate the suffering of the city’s …

Countdown’s Keith Olbermann is donating $100 to charity for every lie told by or on behalf of John McCain and Sarah Palin during the campaign. McCain invented the Blackberry? $100. Palin says she’ll help special …

by Denis Campbell –
For 36 hours, Pima County’s Democratic Party was led on a chase that would have either made The French Connection’s Popeye Doyle proud or retch in disgust.

“In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
“The first is freedom of speech and expression. …
“The second is freedom of every …

As a journalist, the story intrigued; as a citizen, it outraged.
For seven years, Michael Duniho—a quiet, determined, and dignified man—had been sending quarterly or so e-mails, quietly seething about the conduct of elections in his …

by Denis Campbell —
Millions will soon begin early voting in the November general election. Nearly half of all US counties will use the Diebold GEMS tabulation system. Election officials have the ability to print …