New York Magazine has this interesting story about the development of rules for the upcoming Fox News Republican presidential debate. Especially interesting is the part of the article that says the position of candidates on the stage is expected to be related to their standing in polls. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
Law Professor Rick Pildes has this article at Scotusblog about the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court hearing in Evenwel v Abbott, 14-940. The Court will hear this case late in 2015 or early in 2016. Texas, like almost all states, bases redistricting on population, not the number of voters. States are free to decide which standard to use.
The Texas individuals who brought the case believe that the U.S. Constitution requires that redistricting create districts of equal numbers of voters, not equal numbers of residents. Pildes thinks it is somewhat likely that the lawsuit will boomerang on the people who brought the lawsuit, and that the outcome might be that the Supreme Court says districting must be based on residents, not number of voters. Of course the Court is also free to maintain the status quo, in which any state can choose either method. Thanks to Election Law Blog for the link.
The United States is the only nation in which the government subsidizes and mandates that any political parties choose their nominees in publicly-administered elections. Andrew Gripp has this article, explaining how party nominations worked in the United States before primaries existed.
This U.S. News and World Report story says Fox News may permit eleven candidates to participate in its August 6 evening debate, because there is a tie for tenth place.
On July 29, former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore declared his intent to seek the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. It will be interesting to see if he is permitted into the August 6 “second-tier” Fox News debate. Earlier today Fox waived the requirement that the 2nd-tier debaters receive any particular poll showing. But Fox said candidates must have been included in polls.
Gilmore has been included in a few polls, but not most of them.
If Fox News admits Gilmore into the 2nd-tier debate, but continues to deny Mark Everson entry into that debate, Everson will have a strong legal case that he should be admitted also. He was the Internal Revenue Commissioner from 2003 to 2007 and has held other high-ranking government jobs. Everson has not been included in the polls, but he does have an active campaign with a campaign office in Iowa.
