LegBranch Team

Maybe shameless is a bit strong; disseminating your research is important in academia after all.  But Josh and I (along with our colleague at Florida, Dan Smith), have a paper that was… Read More

I posted this on Seth Masket’s facebook page a moment ago (see his blog here).  Seth asked why Obama released his birth certificate now when there is presumably an electoral incentive to… Read More

Jonathan Bernstein and Ezra Klein have a couple posts on Congress’s terrible approval ratings. Both make good points. Klein points out: …the issue isn’t individuals so much as… Read More

Since bipartisan “hope” in Obama’s first campaign has worn off, we are back to accepting the Washington’s “broken” politics.  Of course, by “Washington” people mean “Congress.” However, when it comes… Read More

Whew.  That was close, and with more than an hour to spare!… Read More

I only have a few minutes, so my contribution to our shutdown discussion will be limited. Will a government shutdown occur?  I don’t know.  My intuition tells me no, as I think the… Read More

Here at Rule22, we decided to try something new: we’re each going to weigh in on the looming government shutdown.  Josh’s excellent post, if you haven’t read it, suggests… Read More

One thing is certain: Republicans’ bargaining strategy is a winner. Over the past couple years Republicans won major legislative concessions while still winning the message battle. It’s an impressive feat… Read More

Richard Florida makes the claim that the American states are becoming increasingly conservative (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/03/the-conservative-states-of-america/71827/). This trend, he goes on to argue, has been exacerbated by the economic troubles… Read More

Across the country, public sector unions are in engaged in a fairly bitter struggle with conservatives over the issue of collective bargaining.  (I initially wrote “fiscal conservatives,” but those on… Read More