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New Orleans Quick Hits: Pouring Champagne and “Concentration Camps”
If you’re traveling to New Orleans for the Southern Political Science Association’s annual meeting, might I suggest some in-flight reading to make your time on Bourbon Street more joyous. Take a look… 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
“The Lens of Deep Suspicion.” Why Americans disapprove of Congress.
Most Americans disapprove of Congress and have for a long time. However, today Congress matched its historic best in disappointing US citizens. Gallup released a poll today showing that… Read More
What Does the Future Hold for Rule22?
It looks like congressional Democrats are seriously considering reforming the filibuster. Of course, in my opinion, the emphasis should be on “considering” rather than “seriously.” The important question nobody… Read More
Handicapping the 112th Congress
Inspired in part by Adam Bonica’s (really cool) estimates for the 112th House, I’ve made my own projections for the characteristics of the House. Beyond calculating the party… Read More
Voting on the Coburn Amendment: Distributive or Horse Race Politics?
On Tuesday the Senate voted on an amendment sponsored by Tom Coburn of Oklahoma—political science’s favorite senator—that would have placed a temporary moratorium on the practice known as earmarking. … Read More
Expectations for a Lame Duck Congress
Congress reconvenes today for the first time since the elections took place almost two weeks ago. One would think that after receiving the election results, the losers would pack… Read More
Post-Election Quick Hit
Democrats lost, Republicans gained. Call it what you want: a tsunami, earthquake, or good old voter anger/rage. After being flogged by pundit’s hyper-speculation on what this election “meant,” here are… Read More
How Much do the Election Results Matter?
Happy November 2nd. Evidently, today is election day. Who knew? If you’re here looking for elections forecasting, you must have mistyped “MonkeyCage,” “Pollster” or “FiveThirtyEight” in your search engine. But… 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