On May 9, Nat Weinstein died in San Francisco at the age of 89. In 1945, at the age of 20, he had joined the Socialist Workers Party, where he rose to leadership positions in New York, Seattle, and San Francisco. He spent 69 years as a political activist, eventually leaving the Socialist Workers Party to co-found Socialist Action. See this obituary by Jeff Mackler. Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the link.
Gallup has been asking respondents for over twenty years their attitudes toward the Democratic Party, and towards the Republican Party. These polls are done approximately twice per year. Here are the latest results, from late April 2014. They show 44% of the voters have a favorable impression of the Democratic Party and 50% have an unfavorable impression. Also, 34% of the voters have a favorable impression of the Republican Party and 59% have an unfavorable impression. Thanks to Rick Kissell for the link.
Law Professor Derek T. Muller has this op-ed in the May 19 Detroit news. Muller criticizes state laws that restrict the ability of various categories of people from circulating petitions.
On May 19, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Free Speech v Federal Election Commission, 13-772, a campaign finance case. This older blog post explains the issue in the case.
The May 18 Providence Journal has this op-ed in favor of HB 8072, the bill to eliminate the straight-ticket device. It is authored by Rhode Island’s independent State Senator Ed O’Neill. Straight-ticket devices are especially harmful to independent candidates. In Rhode Island, the usual term for the straight-ticket devise is the “master lever.” That terms harks back to the says of mechanical voting machines.
