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On October 20, shortly after the Democratic presidential debate, former U.S. Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.) decided to withdraw from the 2016 Democratic primary. If your first thought is bewilderment over who Jim Webb is, it only highlights how the media has overlooked this presidential candidate. Jim Webb is acutely aware of the current percentage of independent voters to Democrats and Republicans, and not only in the interests of a possible run as an independent candidate. He knows that it is the i

The latest headlines on nonpartisan voting rights from across the nation. Enjoy. Who Controls Primary Elections, And Who Gets To Vote? Source: Jonathan Stahl, Constitution Daily My Take: A good piece on its surface, but even better if you get into the weeds of the various links and additional stories/information on our primary systems. Group Tries To Replicate Nonpartisan Nebraska Elections In Arizona Source: Mark Brodie, KJZZ 91.5 My Take: Relax your eyes and let your ears takeover for

Rand Paul, once considered the GOP’s savior after two grueling presidential election losses, has fallen on some hard times. Paul was labelled by the media as a front-runner or top-tier candidate months before he officially entered the presidential race on April 7. Now nearly at the 6-month mark, the early stages of the Republican presidential primary changed the game and showed some chinks in Paul’s armor. Paul had two remarkable filibusters to blast drone use and NSA spying, stances that buck

A pair of U.S. congressmen are seeking to cut off funding for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s "Domestic Cannabis Eradication / Suppression Program." The program is funded through controversial asset forfeitures, where agents who suspect you’re in the drug business take your home and car without due process. Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu of the L.A. area and Republican U.S. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan have paired up for the "Stop Civil Asset Forfeiture Funding for Marijuana Suppression

As the refugee crisis in Europe gains more attention, commentators have been asking (and answering) the question, who is at fault? One answer has been provided by Ben Swann of Reality Check. After asking, "So what is the source of this crisis?" he answered, "It started with the war in Iraq." He then goes on to blame the United States in particular, citing its role in "blowing apart" Iraq in the search of nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, followed by "regime change in Libya through the ki

We all know that the Bill of Rights enshrined in the Constitution contains ten amendments. However, it is less well known that the Bill of Rights sent to the states for ratification originally contained 12 amendments. What we know today as the First Amendment – the one enumerating our basic freedoms of religion, speech, and so forth – actually appeared third on this list. The current Bill of Rights contains just ten amendments because the requisite number of states – three-fourths of those in t

There was general consensus among the public that Carly Fiorina won the first GOP "happy hour" debate and the poll numbers showed it. Now, even with high poll numbers, Fiorina is at risk of being relegated to CNN's undercard debate in September. "Despite being solidly in the top 10 by every measure, the political establishment is still rigging the game to keep Carly off the main debate stage next month," Fiorina's deputy campaign manager, Sarah Isgur Flores writes. According to Fiorina campaig

As Bob Conner reported for IVN in 2014, New Jersey’s independents spent approximately $100 million to pay for primaries in which they could not vote between 2000 and 2013. The obvious question is, how did this come to be? How did taxpayers come to subsidize party primaries? The origin of government-administered primaries begins in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when state governments began to intervene to curb the influence of party bosses and tackle corruption. A series of reforms – including

"Now we'll be stuck with Goldwater," quips  Roger Sterling of AMC's Mad Men, referring to recent news of Republican candidate Nelson Rockefeller's marriage to a divorcé 18 years his junior. Roger's statement is a reference to a popular narrative that is used to describe the demise of the former New York governor. What is incomplete about this perception, however, is the impact that race relations had on Rockefeller's viability in the increasingly volatile South. At a point when both the Mad Men

According to the Sentencing Project, an estimated 5.85 million American citizens today are denied the right to vote because of state laws that prohibit voting by people with felony convictions. The Maryland Legislature recently voted to join 13 states like Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, and Utah in restoring voting rights to citizens convicted of a felony upon release from prison. However, these convicts will still be denied suffrage rights while they are incarcerated. Current debate over this