Texas Governor and GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry is booked on all the major morning shows tomorrow, and with good reason.
After two months of
gaffes,
impolitic stands, and
bizarre speeches that quickly waned his
once-strong odds of winning the Republican nomination, Perry went into Wednesday's
CNBC debate sorely needing a win... only to deliver
a tortuous, cringingly forgetful attempt [video] to recall just which three cabinet departments he'd vowed to abolish, a stunning failure political scientist Larry Sabato deemed
"the most devastating moment of any modern primary debate" in his memory.
While Perry's slow-motion flameout has
boosted the fortunes of dark horse candidate Herman Cain, the unlikely challenger is facing troubles of his own in
a volley of sexual harassment claims -- an
oddly ineffective scandal Cain is doing his best to
(somewhat dubiously) disavow. If Cain collapses, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
may reap the benefits, but his moribund campaign
has issues of its own. Pawlenty, Bachmann, Perry, Christie, Cain, Gingrich... the base is loathe to rally round him, but after so many failed, flawed, or forfeited challenges,
can anyone topple Mitt Romney?
posted by Rhaomi
on Nov 10, 2011 -
208 comments
Rhetorical Questions. "Who will win the presidential debates? What does each candidate’s use of words say about how he would govern as president? Can Obama’s rhetorical skills lift him to the heights of Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan—or will his speechmaking do him in? After watching all 47 (!) of the primary season’s debates, our correspondent has the answers—and some harsh criticism for the moderators."
posted by chunking express
on Aug 15, 2008 -
86 comments
Don't know which candidate to support in the 2008 election? Let a
web script match a candidate to your views!
posted by nthdegx
on Aug 9, 2007 -
181 comments
Those of us following the daily heart attack that is
electoral-vote.com will notice a new site feature today. If you've ever wondered how the popular vote can be so evenly split when the red state / blue state breakdown glares so overwhelmingly crimson, now you can see a
map of the US with states inflated/shrunk according to the proportions of their electoral votes. Presumably, this map will be updated, along with the standard one, with new polling data daily. [thanks to EB for originally pointing me to the site]
posted by scarabic
on Sep 14, 2004 -
95 comments
An
OpEd piece by Bruce Springsteen, announcing the tour of Vote for Change, the umbrella of a new group including the Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., the Dixie Chicks, Jurassic 5, James Taylor and Jackson Browne. (NYT)
posted by semmi
on Aug 5, 2004 -
71 comments
"No voting rights for YOU......boy!"- Florida's illegal purges of voter rolls to continue for 3rd national election? Election head resigns. While Florida
refuses to release the "purge lists" to CNN, "The head of Florida's elections division resigned Monday amid reports he was feeling political heat over a push to purge thousands of suspected felons from the state's voter rolls." (Tallahassee Sun-Sentinel) " there has been
little action (and worse, really) on Florida's
agreement to reinstate illegally purged voters to Florida voting rolls that resulted from an NAACP lawsuit over the 2000 election [
"Many voters said their votes didn't count or they were turned away from polls due to mistakes on voter lists, busy telephone lines at election headquarters, punch-card voting machine foul-ups and other problems...Statewide, the largest numbers of voting problems were found in precincts with high proportions of black and elderly voters." The NYT editorially
acknowledged the scandal on February 15, 2004.]
On May 21, 2002, Ashcroft's Justice Department began a suit against Florida counties
"for purging Black voters from voter rolls and other violations of civil rights" Now, four years after the 2000 election, illegally "purged" Florida voters will not be notified until it is
"too late to have their rights restored for this election - or are turned away on Election Day", reports the Tampa Tribune.
"The vast majority of them are black and would be likely to vote Democratic."
It's difficult for convicted felons to
regain the right to vote in Florida, but many on the "purge" lists were not (in 2000) and still are not felons at all. [ note :
Greg Palast - busy of late - must be most credited with blowing this story wide open. See
here here,
here.....]
posted by troutfishing
on Jun 9, 2004 -
46 comments
Florida recount abandoned by major news organizations in the wake of terrorist attacks. I know it's all academic now, but wouldn't this fall under "letting them win"? And did any other news org. report this?
posted by Ty Webb
on Oct 12, 2001 -
38 comments
It turns out before the election, representatives introduced a bi-partisan bill in both the House (
H.J. Res. 113) and the Senate (
S.J. Res. 56) to amend the Constitution to replace the electoral college with the direct election of the President and Vice President.
Contact your reps to ask them to support the bills. If we're going to get electoral reform, it will be now.
posted by veruca
on Nov 12, 2000 -
17 comments
Electoral Defection. Let's say Bush wins Florida after the recount and other machinations. What if the electors meeting December 18 decide that they should forgo their state loyalty and abide by the nationwide popular vote? Also:
Alabama's curious process in which, until 1976, voters actually voted for electors, not candidates, resulting in defections in 1960.
posted by Mo Nickels
on Nov 10, 2000 -
6 comments
