On May 6, the U.K. will hold what David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, described on April 6 as “the most important election in a generation.” Given that this election is likely to either bring about Britain’s first post-election hung parliament since 1974, or the end of the Labour Party’s unprecedented 13 years in power, or, quite possible, both of the above, there is good reason to concur with Cameron’s assessment. Although The Econ...
Illustration by Ilana Schulder As his first term approached its end, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang Party (KMT) was pitted against Tsai Ing-wen, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the first female presidential candidate in Taiwan. The January election, restoring incumbent Ma as president, captured international attention as many anticipated a resulting shift in the precarious relationship between Taiwan a...
by Sida Chen In June of 2013, Iran will elect a successor to its two-term president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It will be the first presidential election to take place since the Green Revolution of 2009, the scene of mass protests in response to the direct manipulation of Iranian electoral outcomes. As they gained momentum, the protesters were brutally suppressed by Iran’s security forces. Establishment forces in Iran, represented by the then-close...
...e toward the front of the large room indicated that “you people” was in fact the group of us who had just spoken — the Democrats of Ohio. It was our second stop on a whirlwind get-out-the-vote tour around Ohio the week before Election Day, and I was riding along as a representative of my father in his bid for US Senate against Republican incumbent Mike DeWine. The tour targeted towns like Defiance, small and conservative enclaves typically dismis...
Traditionally, third-party candidates receive next to no attention in presidential races, mostly because it is an accepted truth that one could never win an election. However, this year a third party might shake things up; not by outright winning the election, but by receiving enough votes to affect who the final winner (either Romney or Obama) will be. One name that is often floated for a third party run is Ron Paul. Paul, an ardent libertarian...
Although I’d read about how Obama —and to a lesser extent McCain — had inspired and mobilized a truly astounding number of volunteers, when I visited Obama’s local campaign office in New Hampshire a few days before the 2008 election, I couldn’t help but be over-whelmed by their energy and sense of urgency. “You can sleep after election day,” I heard one volunteer say, and this battle cry seemed to capture a truth of the 2008 presidential campaig...
It is said that money talks, and indeed, individuals with great wealth want to influence this year’s election to serve their own purposes: Enter the Super PAC. Super Political Action Committees (super PACs) are a new paradigm in campaign finance that has arisen out of the controversial Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court case in 2010. The effect of the Court’s decision is that individuals, or individuals grouped togethe...
...d is no ode to democratic “American” values. American political consultants have learned what corporate America learned thirty years ago: there are lucrative opportunities for growth offshore. During the off years in American elections, consultants disperse to almost every country and are often on both sides of international elections. In the words of reporter Walter Shapiro, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a nation in possession of...
Wikimedia Commons Most American young adults have grown up with at least a vague sense of disillusionment towards the democratic voting processes. Since the historically low voter turnout during the 1996 presidential election — during which less than 50 percent of the voting-age population participated — the collective attitude towards voting in elections has been one of frustration or sarcasm, that we are in some sense humoring American democ...
From Wikimedia Commons This article is the last of a biweekly series called “Highway 270,” which profiled heavily contested states in the 2012 election season. As polling stations open and we await the returns, I offer the last of the “conventional wisdom” for the 2012 presidential election season, as well as my predictions, about which I will probably be sheepishly vague after tomorrow night. In light of CNN’s tremendously helpful “both candid...
Follow us at
Like us on
Recent Comments