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The transformations that candidates go through can be especially interesting in my home state, the Democratic stronghold of Massachusetts. Ever since Massachusetts was the only state won by George McGovern in 1972, it has widely been considered a bastion of liberalism. Democratic candidates from the state such as Michael Dukakis, John Kerry, and Elizabeth Warren, however, must work hard to move away from this stigma when entering national politics. Republicans like Mitt Romney and Scott Brown

The GOP is trying to redesign its nomination process aiming to rein in the recent rash of extreme nominees who keep losing winnable races. These fringe nominees have secondary effects as well. Many blame the duration of the government shutdown on moderate Republicans fearing tea party primary challengers. So how can the GOP regain its balance and find its center? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db6Syys2fmE Go basic. Look to the voting method itself. Our choose-one method, plurality voting, lim

Marijuana legalization activists gained considerable momentum this week. On Tuesday, the city of Portland, Maine, passed Question 1: 67 percent to 33 percent. The measure legalized possession of up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana by adults over 21 years of age. Likewise, Colorado passed Proposition AA Tuesday, which added a 15 percent wholesale tax and 10 percent sales tax on marijuana transactions. These two ballot measures follow a national poll by Gallup that found support for outright legalizat

Concerns about rising tuition and how students can afford to finance their major investments in post-secondary education are widespread. Solid insights into these questions require accurate and up-to-date information about prices. reports on the prices charged by colleges and universities in 2013-14, how prices have changed over time, and how they vary within and across types of institutions, states, and regions. We also provide information on the net prices that students and families actually p

The history of voting rights in the U.S. has been a long battle of disharmony and disenfranchisement since the country’s formation and although freedom and voting are frequently associated with one another in our current culture, restrictions to true freedom in this regard still remain unsettled, contentious, and often unperceived. While democracy was forming in the colonies, the Old World ideology that it was nothing short of mob rule was held strongly by many prominent colonists, thereby limi

The "Under God" Controversy "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." (1892) It sounds familiar to many of us, but it doesn't seem quite right.  Growing up, I had to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day in school.  As a child, the phrase "Under God," which does not appear in the above quote, never even registered to me.  They were just words to be recited along with the rest.  This may be because I was

Zack Frank / shutterstock.com New Hampshire proves to be one of the more innovative states in its electoral process. In its House of Representatives, districts are allotted a number of representatives to serve based on their population. Some districts have only one representative, but others have as many as eleven. They are elected through a process of multi-member district voting, where the citizenry casts as many votes as there are seats to be filled instead of voting for each seat separatel

Demand, meet Supply Amidst some disenchantment with both major political parties, the chart above shows, when looking across the 50 states, the share of votes earned by candidates that were not either Democratic or Republican has fallen significantly for U.S. House of Representative elections since 2000. The State Data Lab resource (Votes Cast for House Election – Other), developed by Truth in Accounting, shows that states with relatively high shares of non-major party votes in 2000 also had s

(Credit: Gage Skidmore) After his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination fell short, former Texas congressman Ron Paul is dipping his toe into independent media broadcasting. Simply titled, The Ron Paul Channel, the tagline for the project is, "Turn Off Your TV. Turn On the Truth." Announced on the former congressman's Facebook page over the weekend, the introduction was: "FINALLY a media network dedicated to liberty, peace, prosperity, and the celebration of the values that you

President Obama signs healthcare reform in 2010 // Credit: Reid.senate.gov Can a state unilaterally suspend the operation of ObamaCare within its borders? Of course not. That measure would violate the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. We fought a Civil War over that question. What if two states banded together to suspend the operation of ObamaCare within their common territory? Can they do that? The answer remains the same. No. But let's try this. Let's have those two states - and others