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The all-powerful ability to form cloture in the Senate. Since the beginning of the Republic, the feature of requiring three-fifths (or at times two-thirds) of the Senate to cut-off debate of a topic has been used for political jockeying and as a legitimate tactic for the minority position to be heard. While a viable tactic, it has been one that has had mixed results -- sometimes only slowing the inevitable down.Longest Filibusters in the US Senate | InsideGov Other times, such as Senator Chri

People are still gathering information about Omar Mateen, the shooter of the Orlando nightclub. However, Mateen was twice investigated by the FBI over suspected ties to terrorism. An unnamed source quoted in the Daily Beast said, "He's a known quantity," yet there were no further inquiries. Although it is too early to tell what the domestic political response will be, violent tragedies often generate calls for tighter surveillance policies, such as the Patriot Act following the September 11, 20

This article was originally published in edited form in the May 2016 edition of USA Today Magazine. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire 41 times over, decided that the system was stacked against him. He won’t run for president as an independent this year. This is a man who if you were asked to count his money at a rate of a $100 bill each second, it would take you over three and a half decades to finish. Merely because he’d be running outside the two parties, this multi

Independent Voter Project (IVP), autores de la ley top-two para las primarias no partidistas de California, sometieron una petición para enmendar la ley de la Ciudad de San Diego que declara ganadores a los candidatos que obtengan más del 50% de los votos durante la elección primaria. IVP solicitó que el Consejo de la Ciudad añada la enmienda en la boleta electoral para la próxima elección general en noviembre. Titulada, “Acta para el Derecho a Votar en la Elección General” (Right to Vote in th

On Tuesday, May 24, voters across the state of Texas were asked to return to the polls for several runoff elections. These runoffs--where the top two vote-getters from the primary election face off-- were triggered when no candidate received a majority of votes in that election. This year, Texas paid for statewide runoff elections for both parties’ nominee for railroad commissioner, as well as runoffs to decide party nominees in various U.S. House and state legislative districts, among other po

Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are both rather unpopular. How unpopular? According to one recent poll, 52 percent of the public views Clinton unfavorably, and 55 percent views Trump unfavorably. Because of this disaffection, a large sector of the electorate is eager for an independent candidate. According to a survey by the firm Data Targeting, more than half of voters are in favor of seeing an independent on the November ballot, and the firm estimates that an independ

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

By sheer statistical coincidence, the percentage of Americans who self-identify as independents (approximately 40 percent) is nearly identical to the percentage of Americans who self-identify as moderates. This coincidence has nurtured a common misunderstanding: that independents are mostly moderates who want members of both parties to move toward the center. But a growing body of literature studying the precise political attitudes of the public – and especially moderates and independents – is

La comunidad latina es una de las comunidades de mayor crecimiento en Estados Unidos, de acuerdo al Centro de Investigación Pew. Esto significa que los votantes latinos no sólo están reformando la demografía social en los Estados Unidos, sino que también están teniendo efecto en la demografía política electoral del país. “El Estado de los Latinos en California” es un reporte presentado por el Caucus Latino Legislativo, el cual confirma que los Latinos componen el 38.6% de la población total de

In the aftermath of the departures of both U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio from the Republican presidential primary contest, the public’s attention is now beginning to shift toward a general election race between real estate mogul Donald Trump and the likely Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This “pivot” in the coverage of the 2016 presidential election is likely to involve a much greater interest in the political inclinations of independent