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Independence Day commemorates the Fourth of July, 1776, the date borne on the Declaration of Independence, by which representatives of "the thirteen united States of America" formally announced their irrevocable political separation from the government of Great Britain. The Declaration was primarily drafted by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, but the ideas in it weren't his own. The document was a synthesis of political philosophy and ideas-- both European and very American-- that helped inspire th

Before 2008, Virginia had not voted for a Democrat to be president since 1964. The state is seen as a critical swing state in 2012 and there can be some useful insights gleaned from the 2008 exit polls and by reflecting on the changes that have happened since then.  Virginia has differences from the rest of the United States in several respects: * In 2008, Virginia had a greater share of African-Americans but a smaller proportion of Latinos. In general, each group was slightly more conservativ

Virginia Rep. Scott Rigell Credit: Rep. Rigell Facebook page Only two Republicans voted against holding Attorney General Eric Holder in criminal contempt of Congress yesterday, one of those being Rep. Scott Rigell, who represents the 2nd District of Virginia. While it may seem unbelievable to some, it comes as no surprise for those familiar with Rep. Rigell's lawmaking style. His actions yesterday put on display his growing reputation as an independent conservative leader. As a recent Time pro

Today the Supreme Court upheld the health care reform's Affordable Care Act. As is to be predicted, politicians had strong reactions both for and against the act. President Obama’s main rival in the November elections, Republican Mitt Romney, lead the pack with talk of repealing the act: “What the Court did today was say that Obama care did not violate the Constitution. They did not say that it is good law or good policy. If we want to get rid of Obama care, we are going to have to replace Pre

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, has yet to announce the selection of his vice president candidate. Such an announcement is not expected before the Republican National Convention. Yet that doesn't keep plenty of political observers from discussing and speculating who the eventual nominee will be. Washington Post's The Fix and Google have recently teamed up to track news mentions, search trends and YouTube video views for 10 of the most frequently mentioned potential cand

Last week, IVN commented on a lawsuit brought by alleged delegates to the Republican National Convention. The Republican National Committee, while stating that suit was frivolous at the same time organized all the named defendants into a united defense against this litigation. There is no indication yet that the complaint in the action was served on any defendant or that the RNC has voluntarily appeared and moved to take any pretrial actions. What is clear: Ron Paul's delegate count continues to

As a result of failed deficit reduction negotiations, more than $500 billion is set to be cut automatically from the defense budget beginning January 2013. Combined, the Pentagon's budget is on a path to $1 trillion in reductions over the next ten years. National attention on diverting from the automatic sequester arrives just in time for November's election, as budgets, livelihoods and political careers remain in limbo. The Bipartisan Policy Center reports, "the full defense and non-defense se

In terms of bizarre twists, last week, a lawsuit was filed in United States District Court for the Central District of California – entitled Delegates To The Republican National Convention vs. Republican National Committee [SACV 12- 00927 DOC (JPRx)]. The Paul campaign is keeping its distance for good reason – it is a very flawed suit. The United States District Court Judge in this action is David O. Carter, a no-nonsense judge and a former prosecutor. While the Republican delegate selection pr

With CSPAN on in the background waiting for President Obama's address to NALEO this afternoon, which I will be live-blogging here, so keep refreshing this page over the next hour, here is one ABC News article I'm reading, which points out that the promises Obama made to this same group four years ago are all still works in progress: The change Obama promised NALEO and Latinos was at once sweeping and bold, from "ending the housing crisis" to creating "millions of new jobs" and expanding minorit

In light of former Senator Rick Santorum's recent comments on ABC's This Week, it is clear GOP social conservatives are becoming increasingly worried about the presence, and power, of Dr. Ron Paul at the Republican National Convention. In the case of a divided Republican Party, if Governor Mitt Romney is going to have to choose between Dr. Paul and Sen. Santorum in Tampa, he has to go with Dr. Paul. In an earlier posting by IVN, we pointed out that at some point Gov. Romney was going to have to