Recently in Election Category

Newt Gingrich's American Solutions blog has an article on the Employee Free Choice Act which would overhaul the current process that workers use to choose whether or not to unionize.

Right now, the National Labor Relations Board handles unionization elections, which take place under a secret ballot. The Employee Free Choice Act, a political hot button this Congress, would change to a "card signing" system where instead of a formal vote, if enough workers simply sign cards saying "I want a union," than *poof* there is a Union.

This reminds me of the complaints about the Caucus system, where supporters of one candidate complain of intimidation and some outright believe that it is against the principle of a secret ballot.

First I'll give my opinion, then offer a suggestion to both that could even help make General Elections more open and transparent, while keeping the secret ballot.

Speakers are Alan Rosenblatt from CAP,  Tracy Russo from the DNC and Mindy Finn, Director of eCampaign Strategies for Mitt Romney  Live coverage is below:


The rest of my photos are here.

Harold M. Ickes is as close to Democratic Party royalty as they get. The son of FDR's Interior Secretary, he was a Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton, and now serves as an adviser to Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) in her own White House bid.

Catalist is transforming the way progressive organizations communicate and campaign by creating a comprehensive, well-maintained national database of all voting-age individuals in the United States, along with the tools and expertise needed to make this database broadly accessible, at an affordable price.

No, it's not an endorsement. Trust me, folks. On the other hand,  David All, GOP New Media guru has pointed me towards an article in the The Washington Times, a publication which I normal ignore but for some reason has a really good take on how Senator McCain doesn't just dismiss bloggers as "bloggers," as in HRC's "The Blogs were going crazy" video.

"It gave him a microphone when others had already left the building," said David All, one of the Republicans' Web pioneers who runs Slate Card.com and who said Mr. McCain has benefited from Mr. Hynes' ties to bloggers. "That very much symbolizes the role of bloggers: We don't have editors to report to, and there isn't a big meeting with editors every morning. What that comes down to is personal relationships."

This panel (a good one) is about how much tech policy will influence the next President. Panelists include:

Campaigns, like many things, are about supply and demand. There is one candidate, and the candidate goes where the demand (and hopefully the votes) are.

Social Networking sites have been a force for this campaign. Howard Dean's campaign was boosted by the rise of MeetUp groups, and since 2004, Facebook has tried to make themselves a player in the Political arena.

However, joining a "One Million Strong for Barack" doesn't really mean much when it's a Facebook-wide group.

Eventful Politics takes the level of online support for a candidate and channels it into a demand: show up here. One of the heaviest users of this service has been Barack Obama, who has actually made campaign stops based on Eventful demand numbers. 

On Tuesday, I spoke with Tim Breidigan, VP of Business Development at Eventful on how they are really changing the game of how online support can translate into real life boots on the ground.

 

 

George Washington University is sometimes known as an oasis of popped collars and dockers, a haven for young Republicans, like one of the volunteers at Politics Online that I met today. Not scripted. I simply had my recorder on at the right time.

I hear more and more of this every day. It ain't over yet.

What can I say?  Barack Obama just photographs well, I guess.




Just like the last one of these, it's from the reuters.com editor's choice picture gallery.  If you check out http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures for all of their galleries, including the daily editor's choice.

Andrew Sullivan pointed us to a Sunday Times article on Obama's journey across Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island.

Obama believes he will be able to neutralise McCain by drawing on the expertise of independent Republicans such as Hagel and Lugar, who is regarded by Obama as a potential secretary of state.

Larry Korb, a defence official under President Ronald Reagan who is backing Obama, said: "By putting a Republican in the Pentagon and the State Department you send a signal to Congress and the American people that issues of national security are above politics."

Korb recalled that President John F Kennedy appointed Robert McNamara, a Republican, as defence secretary in 1961. "Hagel is not only a Republican but a military veteran who would reassure the troops that there was somebody in the Pentagon who understood their hopes, concerns and fears," he said.

Not to be flip about this, but there is Hope in the air.