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Campaigns are big business. And, like any business, it requires raw materials in order to produce a finished product. In elections the raw material is money and the finished product is power and influence. Campaign contributions are closely regulated. According to the Federal Elections Commission, an individual is limited to $2,600 per candidate or candidate committee per election. The limit on contributions to a national party in a year is $32,400 and only $10,000 to any state, district, or lo

It seems that in every cycle there is debate about which states should hold the first presidential primary elections. Some state always seems to try to jump ahead of Iowa and New Hampshire. Since 1972, the Iowa Caucuses have been first in the nation and New Hampshire has been the first "primary" since 1920. There, of course, have been states that have attempted to circumvent Iowa and New Hampshire, claiming that they don't truly represent America as they are small states with seemingly narrow

While the entire military voting system is broken, there are some states whose military absentee voting records are particularly shocking, and it seems that the Department of Defense and state voting officials are simply passing the buck -- pointing the finger at each other as the problem. In the end, it adds up to the disenfranchisement of military voters. According to a report from the Military Voter Protection Project (MVPP), the picture during the 2012 election was not pretty, and unless s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5djtYZuqz_8Voters across America will be tuning in tonight as President Obama delivers his sixth State of the Union address. Since his last address, Edward Snowden revealed the National Security Agency's mass surveillance program, the Healthcare.gov website launched and crashed on October 1, the government shut down for 17 days, and the Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, giving same-sex couples equal protection under federal law. The events of

On Friday, President Obama spoke before the Department of Justice to comment on his administration's internal review of intelligence programs used by the National Security Agency. The administration’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies suggested 40 changes to surveillance practices in the president's report delivered last month. In his statements, Obama ordered a new path for the United State's surveillance programs, in particular the controversial 'Section 215' provis

Primaries first began in the early twentieth century as a response to increasingly strong party control over elections. At the time, voters wanted a larger say in who would be chosen as their candidate, instead of the long-standing tradition of party bosses choosing who would run for office. Progressive reformers viewed direct primaries as a way for constituencies to increase transparency and allow for citizens to participate in the electoral process. As primaries became a feature of local, stat

Put the state of Colorado into a news search engine right now and you’ll get one big result: Yes, you can now legally buy marijuana for personal use in the state. However, there’s something more important going on than the ability of Coloradans to get legally high. Colorado was one of three states to see an increase of more than 30 percent in the number of registered independent voters, according to new research. While Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico saw the biggest increases, the number of

Update: A previous version of the article stated that Coffman won the 2012 election by a margin of 6,000 votes. He in fact won it by 7,001 votes. Colorado’s Sixth Congressional District is considered one of the most competitive districts in the United States, but that has not usually been the case. Republicans have controlled the district since it was created in 1983. Congressman Mike Coffman, a Republican, has held the seat since 2009. However, The political demographics have shifted in the di

Massachusetts passed the first wage law in 1912, followed soon after by thirteen more states and the District of Columbia. However, the Supreme Court ruling in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (1935) resulted in the defeat of a major provision of President Roosevelt’s “New Deal” and further efforts would not succeed until Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1938. A national minimum wage was established at $0.25 per hour.A few very sobering facts: , a startling perspec

Most of the country ‘s political scene is looking toward the new year and the upcoming midterm elections in November wondering how a new congressional makeup might change the current political deadlock or reinvigorate the last two years of President Obama’s term in office. Some Coloradans, however, have a different focus in 2014. In the Centennial State, there is a movement underway to put a new initiative on the 2014 ballot aimed at fundamentally changing the state's electoral system. Curre