The Veepstakes: What’s the Electoral Value of a Vice President?
A few hours ago, Mitt Romney announced Wisconsin representative Paul Ryan as his running mate. It seems obvious that in picking Ryan, Romney is trying to solidify his position with fiscal conservatives… Read More
Reforming Polarization and Gridlock: Series on Congressional Reform
For someone who studies congressional development, the past couple years have been frustrating. Many people with noble intentions proposed reforms to remedy our dysfunctional Congress. However, these discussions have almost universally… Read More
Left and Right are Still Important: The Flux of National Debate
Ezra Klein is frustrated with the fluctuation in party positions. His most damaging critique of this dynamic: “Parties — particularly when they’re in the minority — care more about power… Read More
Does Iowa Matter?
In the mist of an extremely long presidential primary and campaign – as long or longer than I can remember – conversations always reach this question: “Who cares about Iowa?”… Read More
The Debt Ceiling and the Decline of American Democracy
Jacob Hacker and Oona Hathaway, both professors at Yale University, have a very good op-ed in today’s New York Times. I definitely recommend it. To sum up their argument,… Read More
Are Better Legislation and Lower Federal Spending on the Horizon?
One of my favorite places to take in varying perspectives of current political events and issues is Politico’s “The Arena.” In this forum, Politico poses a question to a panel… Read More
“Why won’t They Reform the Filibuster?”
Ezra Klein posted an article Friday about “Six things Obama has done Wrong.” His last point on the administration’s failures is their inability to change the filibuster. The… Read More
Grading Presidential Rhetoric using Readability Software
If you were a junior high or high school teacher interested in assigning presidential speeches for your American Government class, which presidential speeches would you assign and to whom? My… Read More
Yucca Mountain
When teaching American politics to undergraduates, I always seem to find a handful of examples or issues that transcend each lecture. The politics surrounding Yucca Mountain is my next universal… Read More