Articles by Bianca Ciotti

(Credit: Downwithtyrrany.blogspot.com) As of 10 AM EST on November 7th 2012, independent Senate candidates have earned 897,259 votes, a number will only rise as precincts continue to report. As independent votes creep towards the one million mark in the Senate race, history has already been made for non-partisan voters. Though no independent Governors or Congressmen were elected last night, two independent candidates won seats in the US Senate. In Vermont, Sanders won by a 46% margin over his ...

With the 2012 election coming to a close in less than a week, California voters are already anticipating the 2014 races. The current incumbent governor, Jerry Brown, has lost much of his footing with California voters and the greater Democratic party. Many political pundits and critics expect that Brown will not seek reelection in 2014. In his absence, a number of politicians have expressed tentative interest in running for California Governor in 2014, with a least five candidates already eying ...

(CREDIT: Sobhaniformaryland.com) IVN's Bianca Ciotti recently interviewed Maryland's sole independent candidate for Senate, Dr. Rob Sobhani. A longtime pundit and business executive, Sobhani decided to run for office when he grew tired of political gridlock. His campaign amassed the required signatures to appear on the Maryland ballot as an independent. Dr. Sobhani is running against incumbent Ben Cardin (D) and Daniel Bongino (R) in the unique political atmosphere of Maryland. His straight fo...

Credit: Realclearpolitics.com In America's Heartland, independent voters are again a topic of scrutiny. The Indiana Senate race has become a monetary sinkhole as Republicans and Democrats pour advertising funds into the race in an attempt to pick up undecided, opposition, and independent voters. Americans for Prosperity, a Republican PAC, announced they would be spending $700,000 in a statewide ad campaign, while the The Majority PAC (Democrat) announced it would be investing $500,000 in ads in...

(Credit: Pushbackpolitics.org) In his newest TV spot, Romney promises to "crack down on China." Recently, both candidates have made US/China relations a main campaign issue. However, Romney's ambiguous language has led many to question what he thinks the "Chinese problem" really is. The Romney/Ryan ticket is markedly weak when it comes to foreign policy experience, which is not unusual for GOP candidates, since domestic issues have historically been a main concern for the party. As the electio...

Credit: thefeeherytheory.com The Old Dominion may be exchanging their red banner for a purple flag in November. Virginia has voted almost exclusively Republican in previous elections, but it appears that this trend is changing. In 2008, Virginia broke tradition and voted for Obama, much to the surprise of the McCain campaign. According to recent polls, it appears that 2008 was an indication of a changing political spectrum rather than an anomaly. Chris LaCivita, a Republican strategist, claims...

(Credit: Fox News) The Maine candidates for Senate traded blows as the race for the seat intensified this week. The current senator, Olympia Snowe (R) is not running for re-election, leaving three candidates to step up to replace her. Cynthia Dill (D), Charlie Summers (R), and Angus King (Independent) are running in a unique political environment, which has recently been complicated by their cutthroat campaigns. According to IVN's description page on Maine: "Maine is a swing state with an ind...

(Credit: BostonGlobe.com) Naturalized citizens are quickly becoming a major demographic in the upcoming election. This is largely thanks to thousands of initiatives nationwide that encourage eligible, naturalized US citizens to register to vote. The question then, is this: if new Americans are flooding the voter base, how does this effect the outcome of the election? At the National Immigrant Integration Conference in Baltimore last weekend, leaders of grassroots and national organizations cam...

Credit: partnershipfornewamericans.org Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley welcomed a packed hall in Baltimore as the National Immigrant Integration Conference kicked off this weekend. The NIIC is hosted by the National Partnership for New Americans and Casa de Maryland, and it is “the largest national convening of immigrant integration leaders and advocates from across the nation” according to the convention chairs. Governor O’Malley praised the conference with a number of metaphors, including...