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Taxpayer-funded party primaries may soon be a thing of the past in Mississippi, if a recent report from a state-sponsored study group means anything. Convened by Mississippi’s secretary of state, the 50-member panel endorsed the top-two model for primary elections in mid-January, but stopped short of backing any immediate change for fear that it could confuse election workers. As a group, the panel didn’t have any formal legislative or policymaking authority, so any change in how Mississippia

As expected of every election season, political gaffes were bound to happen. Gaffes have been associated with campaign exhaustion, an unsuccessful attempt at humor, or a lack of emotional discipline. Aside from acting as fodder for jokes or fuel for opponents, flubs made by political leaders and candidates alike can create a personal insight that their political image would not allow. Scott Walker Even after a successful 2014 reelection bid, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) still managed to la

2008 was a historic year for young voters. After a steady increase in youth turnout between the 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential elections, the 2008 election was said to have one of the highest youth voter turnout rates in the history of the United States -- thereby ending a historical trend of persistently low youth turnout with the first majority turnout by youth voters since 1964. An estimated 22 million Americans under the age of 30 voted in the 2008 presidential election. With a 51 perce

The 113th Congress has been often dubbed a "Do Nothing Congress," citing its lack of passage of bills and waning popularity. But the original "Do Nothing Congress" was the 80th Congress during President Harry S. Truman's first term. The historical lessons that can be learned from the 80th Congress should serve as a warning to both parties, and will probably dictate much of the political strategy for the 114th Congress and the 2016 presidential election. Republicans Retake Congress World War I

Republicans swept the 2014 midterm elections on Tuesday, capturing the Senate and delivering a stinging defeat to Democrats that will likely define the next two years.If the 2010 midterms were a “shellacking,” as President Barack Obama famously called it, the 2014 midterms were probably more comparable to an alleyway beating. Republicans not only won the out-of-reach Senate with 52 seats by Wednesday, but also entrenched their formidable 244-member House majority and picked up three more governo

According to a recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a think tank based in Washington, D.C., Kansas had the fourth biggest drop in per-student funding (total dollar amount) for schools in the United States since the beginning of the recession. In terms of overall percentage, Kansas is tied with Wisconsin for fifth largest decrease at 14.6 percent. The three states with larger spending cuts to K-12 education were Alabama, Wisconsin, and Idaho. While state lawmake

The Associated Press reports that the Supreme Court on Monday rejected to hear the appeals of 5 states in an effort to keep their bans on same-sex marriage. Marriage rights will immediately be extended to gay and lesbian couples in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin. In addition to ending the delay on marriages in these states, according to the AP report, same-sex couples in 6 other states may be allowed to get married soon as well after federal courts struck down marriage bans in

In April of this year, a federal judge struck down Wisconsin’s voter ID law, claiming that the measure placed an unfair burden on older and low-income citizens, particularly minorities. Yesterday, less than two months before the midterm election and with the governor election in a dead heat, a federal appeals court ruled to reinstate the law requiring voters to show photo identification when casting ballots. The Wisconsin Legislature passed the voter ID law in 2011, but it had never gone into

Oscar the Grouch, the cranky Sesame Street character who lives in a garbage can, was used in reference to veterans who attended the mandated town-hall style events in Philadelphia, resulting in plenty of raised eyebrows from several VA employees, who themselves are veterans. The presentation also drew the ire of veterans groups, who say that the insult is indicative of a bigger problem within the VA, both in Philadelphia and across the country. Following the dust up, Veterans Affairs Secretary

1. Op-ed says open primary would unlock voting for all Florida voters. "In an open primary, all registered voters can vote for any candidate, regardless of their political affiliation or lack thereof. In a closed primary, voters may vote only for candidates of the party with which they are registered." The author of the op-ed does confuse some terms, including open primary and a mixed primary system. For us to move forward with this discussion, we need to a) make sure we are using consistent a