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Voter turnout in the United States is disturbingly low. In the 2008 presidential election, voter turnout was higher than it had been in a generation, but barely 60% of eligible voters bothered to cast a ballot. In non-presidential election years, the numbers are even worse, with over 60% of eligible voters opting not to vote. Given these dismal numbers, one would think that states across the country would seek to implement policies that would encourage participation in the electoral process. Ins

So the Iowa caucus has come and gone for the 2012 election.  Does it really mean anything in the overall grand scheme of things?  Not really.  The Iowa voters don't necessarily pick the candidate that will eventually be the nominee.  And when it comes to the voting demographic in Iowa, it does not come close to being an accurate representation of the overall national voting demographic.  Regardless, though, Iowa goes first... as it has since 1972.  And though it might not pick the winner all the

Counting votes late into the night, a close tie for first place emerged from the Republican Party of Iowa in its first-in-the-nation presidential nominating caucus. Mitt Romney emerged with the most votes at 30,015, but just barely, with Rick Santorum trailing by a mere eight votes at 30,007. Ron Paul finished a strong third place with 26,219 votes followed by Newt Gingrich in a distant fourth with 16,251. Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann headed up the bottom tier in fifth and sixth place respect

Arizona received its fourth unmanned aircraft system (UAS) Tuesday in the form of a Predator-B drone. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officials say that the new military aircraft will assist three others based at the National Air Security Operations Center (NASOC) in Sierra Vista with counter-drug trafficking operations and other Homeland Security missions along the Southwest border. According to CBP spokeswoman Gina Gray: "Basing a fourth UAS in Sierra Vista will best posture CBP for rap

A new Gallup poll measuring the positive intensity of Republican presidential candidates, as well as President Obama, has yielded an interesting result.  Candidates who don’t evoke strong emotion from partisans tend to have better 'Positive Intensity Scores' from the general public than those candidates who inspire more passionate responses among supporters and opponents alike. Two of them, Congressman Ron Paul (+6 among Republicans and -8 among Democrats) and former Ambassador Jon Huntsman (0

As the California GOP's fall convention is set to take place this weekend in Los Angeles, a Field Poll study finds big differences in the state's Republican voter preferences for President based on how much these voters identify with the Tea Party. California Republican voters who identify a lot with the movement prefer Texas Governor Rick Perry over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by 33% to 23%. Romney, on the other hand, leads Perry by ten points among Republicans who identify only

On the same day that a small earthquake shook the San Fernando Valley, a recent Rasmussen Reports study of partisan trends indicates that unaffiliated voters will likely be shaking up the nation's political landscape. Voters not affiliated with either party grew from 32.1% in July to 33.5% in August, which Rasmussen notes as being the highest level in its seven years of tracking. Interesting to note is that the ranks of these unaffiliateds grew as Republicans and Democrats duked it out over rai

Four contenders for the GOP's presidential nomination are polling competitively with President Obama among registered voters, according to a new poll.  How do potential Independent or third party presidential hopefuls match up against the candidates of the major parties?  We don't know, because the pollsters never ask. The new survey, published on Monday, asked just over 1000 registered voters how they would cast their ballots if the 2012 presidential election were held today, matching up the P

So you've determined that you're really an Independent who no longer wants to be caught up in the partisan rancor that has become the hallmark of Washginton politics.  Neither do you support the big money interests that have rolled over the two-party system.  Instead, you want to support clean candidates who are beholden only to the public they are serving and to the nation that has nurtured them. The discouraging reality is that the 112th Congress includes only two members with the word Indepe

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama stopped by the Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto to hold a town hall meeting that was live streamed to an even broader audience.  As Facebook continues to play an integral role in American politics, it does prompt us to think about how a third party Facebook town hall forum could shake up the discourse. While some would like to paint Wednesday's meeting as highly partisan, I would remind critics that the company hosted George W. Bush back in November 2010 t