Unlimited Secret Money Is Drowning Democratic Elections | | AlterNet

This is why Obama's proposed Executive Order and the IRS crackdown are so important.

Unlimited Secret Money Is Drowning Democratic Elections | | AlterNet

House votes to eliminate public financing of presidential elections

Remember, Grover Norquist, the granddaddy of the radical right, has stated they want to move us back to the US as it was under McKinley. Here we go.

Oopsies

Illinois appellate Court rules Rahm not eligible for Mayoral ballot

Put A Date on the Day American Electoral Democracy Died

1/21/10

Quelle Surprise

We need a publicly financed election system in this country, badly. And NOW.

AMERICAblog News: 87% in Congress who received Comcast money will vote in favor of merger with NBC

Gimme Some Purity

Good post on the proposed Repug 'purity test.'

Yay Us!

Looks like the Dems are cruising in Kentucky: Beshear is crushing Fletcher in the Guv race (60-40 margin, seems to be holding across the state), and the Dems are apparently going to take the Treasurer and the AG spots as well). Go Dems!

Florida Flap

I don't know what will come of the Florida primary dustup, but my 'gut feeling' is that the DNC will back down eventually on it. A) Florida is too important (ask Al Gore) to piss off too much and B) it's really not THAT important an issue- certainly not one the party wants to self-destruct over. The rampage to move up the primaries is silly and mostly political window-dressing for local pols, and probably ought to be addressed and organized in some rational fashion. But, I think temper tantrums, lawsuits, and general breath-holding by all parties just makes the party look silly.

What I'd like to see is a multi-tier (maybe with various states rotating positions, election by election) process, with the two traditionals (NH and IA) up first (otherwise, all Hell WILL break loose!), followed at three or four week intervals by a series of mini-Super Tuesdays, with several small and mid-sized states holding their primaries, and then the handful of really big states. Maybe one big one (again, rotating position quadrenially) in the early stages for 'fun'.

Regardless of the process developed, something needs to be done to smooth the process (mechanically, not politically) so that we don't end up with one big national primary day. If we do end up with that, I want a Constitutional Amendment that it can't happen before August, so we don't end up with an continual process.... the challengers starting before the winners' elections are done, leading up to a primary, then a HUGELY long campaign season. This cycle is killing me, and we're just barely past the halfway point! :)

Piss Off, Rupert!

Look, Murdoch... it's bad enough that you want to take the WSJ news sections and have them channel the WSJ morons of the editorial section. But now, you're starting to fuck with the electoral process, and you're doing it in my backyard. So just stop it! STOP IT!

Way to Go, Hometown!

I was born and raised in Dallas, so it's with GREAT surprise that I read this article on msnbc.com. Apparently, one of the two candidates for mayor (in Sat's runoff) is gay AND the race is too close to call. Whodathunkit? In Dallas?!?!? Kewl!

EEP!

From TPM Election Central:

Cato Institute: The Voters Are Ignorant And Proud Of It
Bryan Caplan at the Cato Institute has a fascinating new essay out, arguing what many of us have suspected for quite some time: The voters are stupid. "I offer an alternative story of how and why democracy fails," Caplan writes. "The central idea is that voters are worse than ignorant; they are, in a word, irrational — and they vote accordingly. Despite their lack of knowledge, voters are not humble agnostics; instead, they confidently embrace a long list of misconceptions."

Read the linked article... it's scary. Note: it's a pdf and fairly long, but not too dense (unlike the electorate, apparently!)

Kentucky Race Set

Fletcher (ick) and Beshear (yay!) won the Repug and Dem primaries, both with enough (barely) to avoid runoffs. This will turn into a straight up good vs evil race, because it's hard to get more dirty than Fletcher (he's already under indictment).

One Out, One In

Bush is losing lap-poodle Tony Blair soon, but is picking up a potential pet now that the French election is over. Domage, Segolene.....

Brilliant Idea

Sen Kerry has started a fund to target vulnerable (and semi-vulnerable) Repug Senators next year, to try and 'splinter' the GOP support for Bush and the GOP's war. Brilliant!

Bushies Screwing Poor Voters

Digby has a great rant revolving around the McClatchy article today that detailed the Bush DOJ's efforts at voter suppression. Those of you who read this blog regularly know this is one of the issues that lights me up. Both Digby and McClatchy have me tilting like a drugged out pinball machine. McClatchy doesn't even try to pretend that the DOJ's actions are anything other than voter suppression (when McClatchy took over KR, I was really afraid it would dumb things down, but I've been wonderfully surprised that they seem even more profoundly interested in investigative reporting than KR!) Read Digby and the McClatchy article.

Trippi Joins Edwards

The 'mastermind' behind Howard Dean's surprisingly successful campaign in '04 has joined the Edwards campaign. Joe Trippi should be an important acquisition by Edwards as Trippi was the architect of Dean's online success. Good move!