NewsTrust - Elections - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

The Most Powerful Special Interest in Washington: The Acronym

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Micah Cohen - May. 20 (Opinion) - A linguistic plague is creeping through the nation's capital - the "bacronym," where a PAC or bill name is chosen so that the initial letters of each word form a desired word.

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Those Revolting Europeans

Sun, 06 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Paul Krugman - May. 06 (Opinion) - The French are revolting. The Greeks, too. And it's about time.

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How to Expand the Voter Rolls

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - Apr. 07 (Editorial) - One reason the United States has a low voter-participation rate is that most states are using 19th-century registration methods in the 21st century.

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A Quantum Theory of Mitt Romney

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By David Javerbaum - Apr. 01 (Opinion) - We have entered the age of quantum politics; and Mitt Romney is the first quantum politician. The recent remark by Mitt Romney’s senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom that upon clinching the Republican nomination Mr. Romney could change his political views “like an Etch A Sketch” has already become notorious. The comment seemed all too apt, an apparent admission by a campaign insider of two widely held suspicions about Mitt Romney: that he is a) utterly devoid of any ideological convictions and b) filled with aluminum powder.

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GOP War on Voting Targets Swing States

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Rolling Stone - By Ari Berman, Rolling Stone - Mar. 10 (Opinion) - 'Since the 2010 election, Republicans have waged an unprecedented war on voting, with the unspoken but unmistakable goal of preventing millions of mostly Democratic voters, including students, minorities, immigrants, ex-convicts and the elderly, from casting ballots in 2012.' Ari Berman, Rolling Stone

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Focus on Social Issues Could Shape Battle for Women

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Richard W. Stevenson - Feb. 24 (Opinion) - There are any number of ways in which the politics of culture wars might play out, but perhaps the biggest question is the degree to which the new attention on social issues might shape the battle for one of the most important electoral swing groups: moderate and independent women voters.

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Latitude: Possible Change in Lebanon's Electoral System Is Move to Address Sectarianism

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Elias Muhanna - Jan. 17 (Opinion) - The president's move to introduce proportional representation to Lebanese elections is a bold step toward dismantling political sectarianism.

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Iowa: The Meaningless Sideshow Begins

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Rolling Stone - By Matt Taibbi - Jan. 03 (Opinion) - The 2012 presidential race officially begins today with the caucuses in Iowa, and we all know what that means … Nothing. The race for the White House is normally an event suffused with drama, sucking eyeballs to the page all over the globe. Just as even the non-British were at least temporarily engaged by last year’s royal wedding, people all over the world are normally fascinated by the presidential race: both dramas arouse the popular imagination as real-life versions of universal children’s fairy tales. Instead of a tale about which maiden gets to marry the handsome prince, the campaign is an epic story, complete with a gleaming white castle at the end, about the battle to succeed to the king’s throne. Since the presidency is the most powerful office in the world, the tale has appeal for people all over the planet, from jungles to Siberian villages.

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The Slush Funds of Iowa

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - Jan. 03 (Editorial) - Turning on the television in Iowa recently has meant getting hit by an unrelenting arctic blast of campaign ads stunning in volume and ferocity. Residents here say they have never seen anything like the constant negativity in decades of witnessing the quadrennial combat of the state presidential caucuses. The ads have transformed the Republican race for a simple reason: a new landscape of unlimited contributions to “independent” groups that was created by the Supreme Court.

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In Campaign Financing, More Money Can Beat Big Money

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Lawrence Lessig - Nov. 17 (Opinion) - A public funding system would stop the influence of big money in politics.

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The Republican 'voter fraud' fraud

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Diane Roberts - Nov. 01 (Opinion) - All over the US, GOP lawmakers have engineered schemes to make voting more difficult. Well, if you can't win elections fairly… Presidential candidate and angry white man Newt Gingrich seems nostalgic for the good old Jim Crow poll tax days: he has called for people to have to pass an American historical literacy test before they can vote . His colleagues on the anti-democratic right have not gone quite so far, but 38 states, most of them controlled by Republicans, are concocting all kinds of ingenious ways to suppress the vote. A new report from New York University's Brennan Center for Justice says that more than five million people – enough to swing the 2012 presidential election – could find themselves disenfranchised, especially if they're poor or old or students or black or Latino. Hyper-conservative governors and legislators, working with templates produced by a shady cabal called the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) , have pushed through laws to cut the number of voting ...

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Attack of the Attack Ads: Citizens United and the 2012 Elections

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PBS - By Evelyn Messinger - Oct. 16 (Opinion) - In 2012, two tidal waves will reconfigure the American electoral system and the news media that cover it. A tsunami made of money will buoy up the structure of entrenched political power, while a huge wave of personal technology will disrupt it. I can predict both of these events with certainty because they've happened every election year over the last couple of decades. Still, the changes in 2012 may be dramatic. Angry citizens around the world have been using a potent combination of mobile phones, social networking and broadcast television to upend established political orders. Now it's Americans who are angry, and this election could spark a new level of activism leveraged by these same tools. At the same time, this will be the first general election since the so-called "Citizens United" Supreme Court decision, which tossed out the last vestiges of regulations limiting campaign financing. Among other effects, this will translate into a record numbers of attack ads next fall. Taken together, these two changes may profoundly affect our democracy, and they deserve a closer look.

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For lesson in shared sacrifice, send Congress to boot camp

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

CNN - By Russel L Honore - Aug. 02 (Editorial) - Like most veterans, the men and women who have worn our nation's uniform to defend this country, I am furious with and disappointed in the state of indecision that plagued Washington these past few weeks. Whether or not to raise the debt ceiling so our country can continue to pay our bills and maintain our global credit rating didn't seem like such a difficult decision.

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Mr. Kiefaber goes to City Hall

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Sun - By Jean Marbella - Jul. 02 (Opinion) - A poll-driven, consultant-packaged politician he surely isn't, and that should liven up the city election season — or at least provide a pretty good ongoing game of movie-reference trivia.

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How states are rigging the 2012 election

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By E.J. Dionne Jr. - Jun. 20 (Opinion) - An attack on the right to vote is underway across the country through laws designed to make it more difficult to cast a ballot. If this were happening in an emerging democracy, we’d condemn it as election-rigging. But it’s happening here, so there’s barely a whimper.

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Ehrlich campaign aide indicted yet race seems to play the bigger role in charges

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Examiner - By Hassan Giordano - Jun. 18 (Opinion) - On Thursday afternoon, State Prosecutor Emmit Davitt secured a multiple account indictment against two former Ehrlich campaign operatives, based on last year’s Election Day phone calls aimed at two of Maryland’s predominately African American jurisdictions - Baltimore City and Prince George’s County. Continue reading on Examiner.com Ehrlich campaign aide indicted yet race seems to play the bigger role in charges - Baltimore Independent | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/independent-in-baltimore/ehrlich-campaign-aides-indicted-yet-does-race-plays-the-biggest-role-charges#ixzz1Pe6mxsiA

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Mayoral candidate endorses segregation?

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Sun - By Luke Broadwater - Jun. 16 (Opinion) - At the mayoral candidates forum last night at Coppin State, political hopefuls discussed serious topics, such as taxes and the economy. But early in the night, one candidate made a series of seemingly bizarre statements. Baltimore City Circuit Court clerk Frank Conaway, the perennial mayoral candidate, apparently endorsed cronyism, race-baiting and Jim Crow laws all within the span of a few minutes.

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Robocall indictments: The cost of dirty tricks

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Sun - Jun. 16 (Editorial) - Last November on Election Day, thousands of Maryland residents received automated phone calls assuring them that Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley had already won his race for reelection against former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. The calls urged listeners to "relax" and stay home to watch the outcome on TV rather than go out and vote — even though the polls were still open.

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Mindlessly following Palin tour does the media no favors:

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Anchorage Daily News - By Elise Patkotak - Jun. 08 (Opinion) - First, Sarah Palin makes the term "lamestream media" her own, then she goes and proves they really are. And the lamestream media is right there helping her by acting like a bunch of buffoons. Like summer movies, the coverage being provided of Palin's summer vacation is vacuous and forgettable -- it is, as the Bard would say, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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Trump deserved every lump at correspondents’ dinner

Wed, 04 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Jonathan Capehart - May. 04 (Opinion) - TRUMP sat stone-faced at the WashPost table at last night’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner as Seth Meyers of ‘Saturday Night Live’ ripped him brutally. Definitely laughing at him, not with him. Was so awkward that some folks at his table stopped laughing and applauding.” From Politico Playbook on Sunday

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Bringing transparency to Maryland elections

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Sun - By Mimi Murray Digby Marziani - Apr. 21 (Opinion) - As anyone from the Eastern Shore can attest, last year's race for Maryland's 1st Congressional District was hotly contested and very expensive.

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The race for the 13th district's city council seat has started

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Examiner - By Adam Meister - Apr. 13 (Opinion) - In the past I have written about the sad state of affairs in Baltimore's 13th district. The City Paper says that current 13th district City Councilman Warren Branch may not even live in Baltimore. It is pretty clear that the status quo if failing miserably.

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Campaign ads come back to haunt O'Malley

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

b free daily - By Luke Broadwater - Mar. 29 (Opinion) - O'Malley said during the campaign that he had "no plans to raise taxes" though he didn't outright say he wouldn't, under any circumstances, raise taxes. Now, the governor has some deciding to do.

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Rolley To Challenge Mayor

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Jewish Times - By Phil Jacobs - Mar. 18 (Interview) - OK, maybe it’s not such a stretch to say that after one spends an hour in the living room of Otis Rolley’s home, one almost feels like this is what it must have been like to have interviewed a man named Barack Obama several years ago. There’s the young father feeding a bottle to his baby girl, Grace,…

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A review of Otis Rolley’s Reservoir Hill meeting

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

San Francisco Examiner - By Adam Meister - Mar. 17 (Opinion) - Last night mayoral candidate Otis Rolley visited Reservoir Hill and spoke to a room full of concerned citizens. In typical Baltimore fashion the giant neighborhood was able to produce less than twenty citizens interested in who the next mayor of Baltimore is going to be. Every vote counts and one can be sure that every person in attendance will vote, but Mr. Rolley definitely needs to find some other ways to present his excellent ideas to a larger audience.

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