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A recent poll shows that presumptive nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have record-high unfavorability ratings: 55 percent and 70 percent, respectively. Yet despite their unpopularity, the general electorate may not be exposed to third party candidates as an alternative. This is largely a result of the rules governing who is included in the presidential debates. According to guidelines set by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a candidate must poll at 15 percent to be invited

"This is what Democrats united to beat Donald Trump look like. Get ready, Donald – we're coming." Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Ever since the days of Lyndon Johnson's presidency, the standard playbook of the Democratic Party has been to put the far-left agenda off to the side to focus on center-left politics. The 'Great Society' had soured too many swing voters' opinions on the Democrats, forming the so-called Reagan Democrats -- a group of hard-working, moderate voters who had little to no

Amendment 30 to H.R. 4974 was defeated by one vote Thursday night, a measure that would have increased protections to LBGT workers of companies who contract with the government. Democrats chanted 'Shame!' as the Republican leadership stalled the proceedings to persuade a few of the defectors to switch their votes, with the final outcome being 212-213-8. 8 House members did not vote, 3 Republicans and 5 Democrats. Sometimes missing votes is inevitable; the lifetime average of missed votes in t

Senate Candidate Everett Stern identifies an all-consuming sense of apathy as one of the major problems facing America today. Apathy and cynicism, he says, have robbed citizens of their hopes and dreams, and all but snuffed out the spirit of innovation that once helped this nation become a world leader. Having persevered through significant personal challenges, Stern sees a light in the darkness; reaching that light requires a re-investment in values like integrity, freedom, justice and truth.

In June, I watched donald trump in New Hampshire speak at a campaign appearance in a big home before an all-white audience. (donald trump appears in lower case, as I refuse to accord him the dignity he routinely refuses others, but in doing so, I extend my apologies to e e cummings.) I watched his show courtesy of MSNBC, which astonishingly covered it live – all of it. Trump in his Live Free or Die campaign stop was my first indication that MSNBC, ostensibly the “liberal” cable network, would

Zoom In: Frontrunners are full steam ahead in Acela Primary Last Tuesday, voters in the Acela Primary made their voices heard. Donald Trump swept the Republican primaries by large margins. In the wake of his first majority win in New York’s primary, Trump earned 56.7% in Pennsylvania with Ted Cruz in a distant second at 21.6%. Trump also won 57.9% in Connecticut, 60.8% in Delaware, 54.4% in Maryland, and 63.8% in Rhode Island. These latter large percentage point wins were followed by John Kasic

Just when you thought independents couldn’t face any more voter discrimination this year, they will be hit with four closed primaries in a single day on April 26. This comes a week after independents were disenfranchised by the closed New York primary on April 19,  a primary where voters were required to register with a party six months in advance and a record amount of independents were told they didn't re-register in time or were turned away from the polls. The five contests on Tuesday are C

Horror stories abound in New York after the Tuesday primaries as voters report being dropped from rolls, turned away by poll workers, and subjected to long lines in understaffed polling places. City authorities admitted that at least 125,000 voters were mysteriously purged from the polls in Brooklyn alone. The New York state attorney general’s office reported that its voter hotline had received 562 phone calls and 140 emails by Tuesday afternoon, more than five times as many complaints than dur

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, a long time advocate of medical marijuana, will sign SB 3 this weekend. SB 3 will usher in Pennsylvania's medical marijuana program. The state's mostly Republican General Assembly passed SB 3 after decades of resistance. Now, with a sympathetic governor in office, the state lines up as the 24th state to allow access to marijuana treatment. According to Pennsylvania's Morning Call, which has followed the story carefully over the years, the tipping point for the s

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders is on a winning streak, having won eight of the last nine contests. Though Sanders still trails in terms of pledged delegates (whose support is tied to electoral outcomes in caucuses and primaries) by a count of 1,287 to 1,037, his deficit among superdelegates is even larger. Created in the early 1980s to empower "party leaders and elected officials" (PLEOs), superdelegates can vote for whichever candidate they prefer at the presidential nominating convention. Among