The New York Times had a fascinating article: A Psychologist Helps Repackage Democrats’ Message Democrats up and down the ballot have been trying to reverse the Republican rhetorical dominance that made “liberal” an unsavory label, and many have found help in a slender document percolating through their party’s hierarchy. It is called the “Message Handbook for Progressives From Left to Center,” and, along with a companion piece on health care, it was created by Drew Westen, a psychology...

One of the few remedies I have found for “outrage fatigue” is to offset bad news by giving my time and money to candidates and movements I believe are part of the solution. One of my beliefs is that otherwise pragmatic candidates are influenced by money from special interests and one of the solutions is publicly financed campaigns that allow candidates to run without pandering to extreme constituents. Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.) have introduced the Fair Elections...

Palin: Iraq war ‘a task that is from God’ Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a “task that is from God.” In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it “God’s will.” As a left leaning independent this is way over the line for...

For those of us gripped by a concern that Democracy is fragile and at risk here in the US here is a path towards restoring faith in government of the people and by the people. We Want You…to be a Poll Worker comes from the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, a prominent voice on Campaign and election reform. In the long term, we need to figure out a way to recruit good poll workers. Current innovations include having high school students, many of whom would ordinarily...

Steven Thomma wonders about the future of Centrists in the article Does Obama’s rise mean less clout for Democratic centrists? They noted that while the Centrist Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was meeting in Chicago Obama did not attend, even though he was home this weekend. While I favor a Democratic take over of Government in order to correct GOP negligence and advance progressive policy, it stands to reason that the Democrats will also eventually spin out of control and descend into...

The Boston Globe has this revealing profile of how a Firm gets big cut of campaign donations. Apparently the candidates realize only a modest percentage of the money raised in their name. So along with special interests trying to game our system of public policy we have the political operatives who make their money off of the current private campaign financing fiasco. I suspect that the over whelming majority of candidates who are motivated by service would welcome a path to election that does...

The Election Law Blog has a helpful summary of today’s Supreme Court decision against limits on campaign financing. The Court ruled that just because a candidate is wealthy does not justify increasing the fundraising limits on his opponent. This follows previous court rulings that frown on limiting the fund raising of candidates. I do not personally agree that money and speech are equivalent, particularly in Politics. The freedom of speech is not, to me, the freedom to drown out an opponent...

Today the D.C Court of Appeals struck down a variety of FEC regulations that were too loose and vague to reflect the intentions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). Details follow courtesy of Democracy21 While I am reassured that the intentions of the BCRA are being enforced I question whether the paradigm of trying to restrict the flow of money into politics is futile. Perhaps it would be more effective to adopt a paradigm to neutralize the influence of money in the crafting and enforcement...

Here are a few notes on my participation in the Texas Democratic Party Convention with 14,000 folks this weekend. Thursday was a 6 hour meeting of the Platform advisory Committee which updates the 2006 version. I was gratified to see my finger prints on a variety of items: Same day voter registration, access to voting equipment by the disabled, redistricting reform, Mail in voting, Publicly financed elections, human trafficking, Energy net metering. It is amazing to realize how much impact each...

Public campaign finance system launched HARTFORD, Conn. – The state has launched a voluntary program to publicly fund campaigns for statewide office and the legislature. To date, 145 candidates have signed up. In return, they must forgo contributions from political action committees, raise small contributions from individuals and adhere to campaign spending limits and other restrictions. The proponents of the law, passed in 2005, say it will give average citizens more of a voice in Connecticut...

Talking Points Memo and I agree that it Couldn’t Happen to a Nicer Guy Poll: Senate GOP Leader McConnell Trailing Democratic Opponent By Eric Kleefeld – May 27, 2008, 8:49AM The Senate Republicans are expected to have a rough time of it this year, but even this is big news: A new Rasmussen poll puts Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) behind his Democratic challenger, businessman Bruce Lunsford: Lunsford (D) 49% McConnell (R) 44% Sample size: 500 likely voters. ...

From the Election Law Blog: Senator Obama and the Decision to Opt Out of Public Financing. It’s satisfying reading from people who know what they are talking about.

In “(Senator Warren) Rudman testimonial offers history and a lesson,” Brad Cook writes about the lessons and wisdom of our recent, great bi-partisan leaders. Americans for Campaign Reform, the sponsor of the event, is an organization that was founded by New Hampshire political activist John Rauh and others. Its chairmen are former Democratic Sens. Bill Bradley and Bob Kerrey, former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson and Rudman. These four distinguished Americans recognize the need to change...

David Brooks writes today about Running Mates but drops in a very sobering warning: He (Obama) will find himself surrounded by highly partisan Democratic politicians, committee chairmen and interest groups thrilled to finally seize power. Some of them might have enjoyed his lofty rhetoric about change, but in practice, these organization types have no interest in changing politics. They just want to take the money and patronage that has been going to Republican special interests and give it to Democratic...

The Sunlight Foundation captures a political tactic in Like Swimming in Molasses “At Sunlight, when we learned that Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was convening a task force to address the issue of earmarks, we knew the odds of progress were slim. McConnell is an appropriator, a champion of earmarks and an ardent foe of almost every conceivable good government reform. He also has a keen political ear. So by forming a task force on earmark reform, he could arguably demonstrate action...

Thanks to Centerfield for pointing me towards this thoughtfully realistic post by Gruntled Center Brooks actually cited two cases of the corruption of the Washington system. The farm bill was one, and the energy bill was the other. I agree that both are bad bills, more of a sweetheart deal for the biggest agribusiness and oil companies. That they both passed Congress overwhelmingly is a sign of a deep corruption in our politics. It is also a sign of the necessity of compromise in making legislation....

Thanks to RealClearPolitics for passing this along from Christopher Hitchens in Slate. John McCain wants to bring British-style political grillings to Capitol Hill.

RealClearPolitics reports that the conservative Republican Study Committee will offer a new platform today Last night, RSC chairman Jeb Hensarling sent a memo to committee members urging them to attend today’s conference meeting in order to make their voices heard. “Collectively, the Republican Conference needs to unify behind a handful of policy proposals that are bold, simple, and are truly part of our core identity,” Hensarling wrote. Hensarling and the RSC will urge fellow Republicans...

As a relatively practical business person I am a big fan. Almost every response to every problem is a balancing of choices. There is no standard definition, but it is widely accepted that the term came into use during the Clinton administration and was coined by adviser Dick Morris. Morris described triangulation in a PBS interview in 2000, saying: Morris: Take the best from each party’s agenda, and come to a solution somewhere above the positions of each party. So from the left, take...

In The first cut is the deepest… a Texas political insider imagines the first meeting to unify the Obama and Clinton Camps. Craig (Clinton campaign representative): I hate you. I hate your boss. You have stolen the election from us, and if you expect me to like it, you’re out of your mind, you hamster chewing groin poker.

Kevin Drum at The Washington Monthly is as astounded as I at the new GOP The American Families Agenda. It is not just what is in it: * Lower gas prices and energy costs * Provide for a family-friendly work week * Grow our small businesses * Allow workers to take their benefits with them when they change jobs * Take care of our parents and grandparents * Assure health care for all * Make prevention a national priority * Crackdown on child predators and gangs * Provide...

This from Richard Kimball the founder of Project Vote Smart which gathers the voting records and opinions of candidates for almost all levels of government. The reasons that candidates give for their reluctance seems to justify a move towards public financing of campaigns along with a requirement to declare positions on issues relevant to the voters and perhaps some mandated debates to “out” the candidates for the few of us who would like to know that they think.

I stumbled across this nugget from Opensecrets So far for the 2008 election cycle the largest single donor is Actblue, an online bundler of small donors for Democratic Candidates and Organizations: 1 ActBlue $9,959,543 2 Goldman Sachs $3,644,396 3 Citigroup Inc $2,926,918 4 AT&T Inc $2,465,904 5 JPMorgan Chase & Co $2,417,051 6 Morgan Stanley $2,177,730 7 Operating Engineers Union $2,040,575 8 UBS AG $1,924,891 9 Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers...

I am delighted with the encouraging news that McConnell Leads, But Under 50 Even though he has one of the largest political war chests for his upcoming Senate campaign, Senator minority leader McConnell is polling with surprisingly low margins relative to his potential opponents. The Senator is perhaps the most prominent champion of special interest influence and his retirement would be an opportunity to advance the reform of campaigns and elections. While the presidential campaign is exciting and...

Public Campaign Action Fund relays a report on the upcoming vote on Publicly Financed Elections promoted by Alaskans for Clean Elections. I made an online donation of $10 as my vote of encouragement. David James of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner says that if you’re feeling blue about the state of Alaska politics and government don’t despair. There are few things voters can do to counter-act the wave of corruption including voting in favor the public financing initiative on August’s...