Anatomy of a Stump Speech. The NY Times has been killing it of late with interactive features. This one is particularly good -- an annotated breakdown of the text and video of Republican stump speeches by four candidates.
"Revisionist history alert: Mr. Gingrich is recasting his tempestuous tenure as House speaker..."
posted by Cool Papa Bell
on Jan 3, 2012 -
26 comments
It's Election Day in America, and as is so often the case in this
fickle land, the results of the 2010 midterm elections are up in the air. Although President Obama's party is expected to suffer significant losses,
record numbers of districts remain competitive, and even minute errors in polling could mean the difference between
a historic Republican landslide and
an unexpectedly robust Democratic defense. At stake are control of not just the Senate and House, but myriad state and local offices, many of which will play key roles in the dynamics of the 2012 presidential race -- and, more subtly but no less crucially, the once-in-a-decade
congressional redistricting process. Much uncertainty surrounds the behavior of the electorate -- how many will turn out, and how informed will they be? To help move those statistics in the right direction, look inside for voter guides, national and state fact checkers, and an assortment of other resources to keep tabs on as the results roll in.
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Nov 2, 2010 -
858 comments
Japan's opposition party,
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), is projected to win a
landslide victory tomorrow, ending the 52-year reign of the
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Furthermore, according to a survey conducted by the popular Asahi Shimbun newspaper,
the DPJ could win a two-thirds majority, enabling them to roll legislation through the Diet unabated. Despite the projections, the two parties are still
battling hard. Washington is
following these elections very closely, because of the man who could be the next prime minister,
Yukio Hatoyama.
[more inside]
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing
on Aug 29, 2009 -
46 comments
NRW 1946—2006. Short articles chronicling North Rhine-Westphalia. The site has one rather large shortcoming though, the video clips cannot be accessed (only available on VHS within the State!).
posted by tellurian
on May 12, 2009 -
10 comments
Many people are up in arms (heh) over the Supreme Court's decision regarding gun control, but rather less press is being given to another opinion handed down today:
Davis v. FEC. The issue was the constitutionality of the
"Millionaire's Amendment", which allowed for political candidates facing self-funding challengers who intended to spend more than $350,000 to raise more money from individual donors than they would otherwise be allowed to do.
In a 5-4 decision, the court found the law unconstitutional.
[more inside]
posted by Bromius
on Jun 26, 2008 -
16 comments
The Soapbox is a collection of photographs, texts of speeches, transcripts of debates and political ads from Australian election campaigns (both State and Federal) from 1901 to the present day. More materials will be added when they become available.
posted by Effigy2000
on Oct 25, 2007 -
3 comments
"I do not recall" --meet Lurita Doan, Administrator of
the GSA (
Our mission is to help other agencies better serve the public by meeting – at best value – their needs for products and services, and to simplify citizen access to government information and services.), and hear about the powerpoint presentation from Rove's office all about electing Republicans in 08 and how her agency should help. Her office supplied it to Congress--but it was just a (GOP) "team-building exercise" and "brown-bag lunch". (YouTube) Read up on
the Hatch Act too.
posted by amberglow
on Mar 28, 2007 -
54 comments
Abu Gharib? Feh. The newest Dark Side: telemarketing abuse. The National Republican Congressional Committee has launched a $2.1 million campaign calling individuals, including those on the Federal Do-Not-Call Registry, with automated telephone messages scripted to sound as if they are coming from the Democratic candidate up for election, in the hopes of driving away support come Tuesday's elections. "Hello. I'm calling with information about
[Democratic candidate]," the recording begins, and then pauses for the traditional hang-up. If the recipient does indeed hang up, they then receive repeated phone calls back. This manner of scripting violates
47 CFR 64.1200(b)(1), which requires that "the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call" be "state[d] clearly" "at the beginning of the message." The New Hampshire Attorney General
got them to stop calling those on the Do-Not-Call Registry, at least. (In their best interests, perhaps, due to
the $5,000 fine per call potentially racking up hefty fines.) This is going on at the very least in the
Pennsylvania 6th, the Connecticut 4th, the North Carolina 11th,, the New Hampshire 2nd, and nationwide.
posted by WCityMike
on Nov 5, 2006 -
142 comments
Mexico's election: now being recounted, but
some are saying it was stolen with our help. Many countries in Latin and South America have been moving to the left lately,
following in the footsteps of Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile. Argentina actually caught us messing with things during their election, too. Exit polls in Mexico (as in Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004) showed a lead for the more leftist (relatively) candidate, and for those who scoff at using exit polls as evidence--in 2004,
US Republican Senator Richard Lugar, in Kiev, cited the divergence of exit polls and official polls as solid evidence of “blatant fraud” in the vote count in Ukraine. As a result, the Bush Administration refused to recognize the Ukraine government’s official vote tally. So, honest election, or what?
posted by amberglow
on Jul 3, 2006 -
65 comments
The Mexican General Elections are held tomorrow, and the campaign has been extremely
fierce and dirty. Long-time favorite center-leftist
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the
Party of the Democratic Revolution, who had been running with an up to 10 percentage point lead earlier this spring, is down to a 2-3 percentage point lead in the last polls before the poll blackout started on the 23rd of June. His main opponent is
Felipe Calderón, of the right-wing
National Action Party, whose
Vicente Fox, an ex-executive of the Coca-Cola company, is the current president. But attacks against López Obrador
started several years ago, when he was the head of government in Mexico City, as right-wing interests and the upper classes saw his populist rhetoric and support from the huge lower classes as a threat to their privilege and way of life. They compare him to
Castro,
Chavez and
Morales, while his politics may in reality be closer to those of
Kirchner,
Lula,
Vázquez and
Bachelet. López Obrador has accused Calderón of
corruption and nepotism, while Calderón has declared López Obrador a
danger to Mexico. Meanwhile, the US would much prefer a right-wing president in Mexico, and some
track that to the right wing's willingness to privatize the national oil monopoly, and of course,
most of Latin America has been turning left lately.
posted by Joakim Ziegler
on Jul 1, 2006 -
15 comments
The Coming Crackdown on Political Blogging. "In just a few months... bloggers and news organizations could risk the wrath of the federal government if they improperly link to a campaign's Web site. Even forwarding a political candidate's press release to a mailing list...could be punished by fines." CNet's engrossing interview with an FEC commissioner who predicts major turmoil ahead as the government tries to decide if a blog link is a donation. A
Brookings paper (pdf) suggest "Radical changes in modes of communication and forms of political campaigning lie not too distant on the horizon."
This guy says it's all an attempt to undermine campaign finance laws by freaking out bloggers.
posted by CunningLinguist
on Mar 3, 2005 -
20 comments
Logistical issues threaten to undermine Iraqi elections. "I just can't see how we can hold these elections," an American consultant working with Iraqi election planners said on the condition of anonymity."
I found out about this story, btw, from someone working on the elections in Baghdad. They write:
"We've got a leak. Someone, an American, is talking to the press. And ___ is *pissed*. It's a good article, though... er, even though I'm not commenting on it. Or expressing an opinion. But if you've got any interest in these elections, you should read it."
They also cited several of the problems they are having:
"Because our meal times are regulated by (KBR), it only allows us about five hours a day . . . with our Iraqi counterparts. Iraqis bolt for home at around 3 PM to avoid being shot in the head or blown up . . . After a mortar attack, car bomb, or any other security related exercise, the US military shuts down the Iraqna mobile phone network . . . We have become the focal point for . . . everything that the Iraqi staff cannot handle . . . which includes getting people (and) equipment into the building, getting water (and) lunch for day laborers, preventing mass resignations due to salary disputes, replacing windows broken by car bombs, removing trash, cleaning toilets, fixing locks, moving (and unpacking) boxes . . . It makes it difficult to get our actual jobs done, although I have forgotten what those are."
posted by insomnia_lj
on Dec 13, 2004 -
6 comments
Florida is the New Florida Although many discussions of voting anomalies focused on Ohio, a statistical
analysis of
Florida voting patterns performed by sociologists at
University of California, Berkeley suggests that
electronic touch screen voting in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade may have credited George Bush with up to 260,000 extra votes in Florida. The discrepancy is not enough to change who won Florida, but it could have narrowed Bush's lead to 90,000 votes instead of 350,000, highlighting the need for better auditing of elections with electronic voting.
posted by jonp72
on Nov 18, 2004 -
33 comments
Robert J. Vanderbei is trying to show us we're not as divided as it seems.
It's not quite the City Vs. Country conflict that you may have understood it to be in this years election. Methinks, perhaps, this extends to other political opinions as well.
Lots of great voting result
visualizations are available at
this blog. Including my favorite, state results, with electoral votes dictating the relative size of the state. I'm not explaining it well. Go
look here.
I *promise* this'll be the last political post for a while. I know we're all wretchedly sick of it.
posted by Parannoyed
on Nov 7, 2004 -
24 comments
Southern Conservativism explained from the inside. "I get very antsy when I see this entire election outcome being blamed on radical conservatism or on ignorance or stupidity. Because really when people talk about "radical" conservativism, what they really mean is Southern conservativism, specifically the kind that originated in the Southern Baptist church in the late 70's/early 80's. And that makes me unhappy. I am an ex-Southern conservative." An interesting read coming out of the election fallout.
posted by FunkyHelix
on Nov 6, 2004 -
131 comments
A bizzare pattern of impossible anomalies This has long been known : the
welter of financial ties of Diebold and ES&S to the radical religious right (with stakeholders currently, it seems, on the secretive
CNP) and Bob Fitrakis notes : "Wherever Diebold and ES&S go, irregularities and historic Republican upsets follow."
Howard Ahmanson was the original funder for Bob and Todd Urosevich's Data Mark,which became ES&S, Bob later left to head
Diebold ,maker of
HAVA Act mandated touch screen voting machines used in Ohio and Florida and elsewhere....
Ahmanson is a
Christian Reconstructionist (a form of
Dominionism ) who has talked of imposing Biblical law on the US - including the death penalty for gays and drunkards - and is also a main funder of the
Chalcedon Foundation. However, the most bizzare patterns of anomalies in Florida came not from touch-screen but optical scan machines. Florida's central vote tabulator also is
Diebold made, raising questions on the
a bizzare pattern of anomalies in which a large number of counties in Florida had increases in Republicans votes over expected levels - by an overall average of 50% to 100% and - in one county, as high as
700%. Meanhwhile, here are
graphs of variance between exit poll results for battleground states.
posted by troutfishing
on Nov 5, 2004 -
85 comments
Election 2004, county by county: For those who just can't get enough political mapping goodness. Here's the 2004 presidential election's Red/Blue divide at the county level, where possible. Lesson: most red states aren't quite as red as they seem, and blue states aren't as blue. Author has 2000 election data plotted as well, which I believe was posted earlier.
posted by mojohand
on Nov 4, 2004 -
53 comments
While you were re-electing a president:
Senator-elect
Jim DeMint: Thinks that unwed pregnant women and gays are unfit to be schoolteachers.
Senator-elect
Tom Coburn: Wants the death penalty for abortion doctors.
Senator-elect
John Thune: Mr. School Prayer Amendment.
Voters in 11 states
voted to ban same-sex marriage. The
lowest margin was 57%-43%. The highest (Mississippi) was 86%-14%. Kentucky's also bans
civil unions. That one was 75%-25%.
The Senate will likely be split
55-45 in favor of Republicans, creeping closer to a filibuster-proof supermajority. Meanwhile, 89% of
these guys are older than 65.
Enjoy your tax cut, America. You're going to need it.
posted by PrinceValium
on Nov 3, 2004 -
73 comments
