The campaign of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is challenging the Democratic Party primary petition of Zephyr Teachout, a law professor who is also seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor. See this story. She submitted 45,000 signatures and needs 15,000 signatures of registered Democrats. Apparently Cuomo is not challenging the Democratic primary petition of Randy Credico, the third Democrat who filed. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
Federal campaign law says that individuals may contribute up to $5,200 to the campaign of a congressional candidate. However, the law says the donor can only give $2,600 in the primary season, and may only give $2,600 in the general election season. On July 21, two potential donors filed a lawsuit against the “bifurcation” requirement. They argue that if Congress does not believe that a contribution of $5,200 to a candidate leads to a danger that the candidate will be bribed by the contribution, then there is no rational reason why the donor can’t give the entire $5,200 for the general election campaign season.
The case is Holmes v Federal Election Commission, U.S. District Court, D.C., 1:14cv-01243. Here is the 19-page complaint. Thanks to the Center for Competitive Politics for the link. The plaintiffs happen to live in Florida, but challenges to federal campaign laws are always filed in Washington, D.C. The case will probably be assigned to a 3-judge U.S. District Court, because non-frivolous challenges to federal campaign laws are entitled to a 3-judge court, by act of Congress.
Ray LaRaja and Brian Scaffner, political science professors at the University of Massachusetts, here argue that strong political parties reduce polarization. They also conclude that federal campaign finance laws, especially the McCain-Feingold law which still hobbles political parties, are partly to blame for weakening parties, and therefore increasing polarization. Thanks to several people for the link.
Curtis Gans, an expert on the statistics of voter turnout, says in this article that 2014 seems likely to have the lowest primary voter turnout for any midterm year in U.S. history. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
Ed Rabel, a prominent journalist for several decades, has been certified for a place on the November 2014 West Virginia ballot. He is running for U.S. House in an open seat. See this story.
