The California Legislature approved a bill last week to extend voter registration privileges to 17-year-old citizens. If signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the bill would help put California youth on the road to a lifetime of democratic participation.
As a candidate running to represent Florida in the U.S. Senate and as a four-term member of Congress with a 15-year public service record, I have taken great pride in representing my constituents to the best of my ability. In recent years, there has been an explosion of new technologies that help elected officials stay more in touch with their constituents. Later this week, in Pittsburgh, the top people behind the creation of that technology and the best practitioners of this new media will be gathered at Netroots Nation. I'll be there with them learning from the best.
Netroots Nation is one of the most important annual events in the progressive movement and it is both a place where I can reach out to some of the key opinion leaders in the online world and, hopefully, a place where I can learn how to more effectively use new media tools. I tweet, and maintain a fan page and personal page on Facebook, but new media is not only about the latest social networking sites online or applications on my iPhone. It's about issues and public policy, and finding ways to help our economy move from recession to recovery and the men and women who attend Netroots Nation have critical ideas on how we move our country forward.
If you already know about Annette and agree, go sign the petition and encourage her to jump into the race. You don't have to be a Floridian to sign the petition, either, we want to show her that people across the country support her. And, trust me, you want talented, progressive Democrats in charge in Florida, it'll help everyone.
Taddeo ran a strong campaign against Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in Florida's 18th District. Despite widespread support and much excitement generated by her candidacy, she was unable to overcome the popularity of the incubment, who had the vast resources of her office and long career in politics to hold off the newcomer. Taddeo did establish herself as a progressive politician to keep an eye on, though.
Prosecutors are rarely held accountable for acts of misconduct or abuses of power in our country. Yet another example of this reality comes from a case out of Florida, where prosecutors engaged in egregious, intentional courtroom misconduct throughout the trial. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately upheld the conviction in the case because they found that the misconduct did not affect the outcome of the trial.
The law provides judges with tools that guide them to weigh prosecutorial misconduct against the facts of a case to determine whether the misconduct was severe enough to affect the outcome of the trial. Regardless of what appellate courts decide (i.e., to uphold the conviction or remand it for retrial), the simple truth is that misconduct has occurred. Unfortunately, the system does not provide judges with tools to guide them on how to address acts of prosecutorial misconduct. While defense attorneys, fellow prosecutors, and judges are ethically obligated to report acts of misconduct by prosecutors to the proper disciplinary authority, this reporting rarely happens. When prosecutors do face disciplinary proceedings, meaningful sanctions are uncommon and rarely go further than a public censure.
For most states this year, the economic crisis has taken precedent over other serious policy issues, including election reform. In fact, the few key states that are dedicating this year's session to election reform instead of major budget issues are stirring up voters as they put their rights on the line. Like the highly publicized battles to pass voter ID in Texas and proof-of-citizenship registration requirements in Georgia, Florida's notorious 80-plus page omnibus election bill takes the cake in breaking the spirit of democracy.
The rising levels of voter participation among the nation's youth continue to be challenged by the current voter registration system, perpetuating the difficulty of fostering lifelong voters. Some states are proposing to take this challenge into their own hands by making voter registration accessible to citizens as young as 16. Already widely accessible at schools and departments of motor vehicles, the move would allow future voters in some states to automatically be enrolled on the voter rolls on their 18th birthdays, a change that advocates say could "close the registry gap between young voters and the rest of the population."
In recent front page entries on OpenLeft like We Must Stop Raising Money For Blue Dogs Chris Bowers and others have done a great job of discussing mistakes being made and where the focus should be in general terms. I chipped in a late comment No No No on that particular post that I've heard myself saying a lot over the past two years.
In real terms, RIGHT NOW there are two primaries that have one obvious choice for real Democrats - Virginia's 2009 Gubernatorial primary and Florida's 2010 Senate Primary - both open seat races in bluing states.
Last week, after spending 28 years in prison for a murder he did not commit William Dillon was finally freed. DNA testing conducted by the Florida Innocence Project convinced prosecutors in Brevard County, Florida not to re-try Dillon for the 1981 murder. A story in the Florida Today newspaper recounted the numerous acts of prosecutorial misconduct in Dillon's case that led to this miscarriage of justice.
Recent analyses of the 2008 general election find that overall participation increased on November 4, with a significant surge in voter participation among historically underrepresented Americans. Yet, while some lawmakers have been inspired by the recent voter turnout to propose election reforms that expand access to voting rights, others continue to focus on creating additional barriers to voting.
I grew up in Miami, so I remember Jeb Bush's political runs for Governor in 1994 and 1998. In 1994, there were bumper stickers plastered all over cars in Miami that simply said 'Jeb!', but he ended up losing a very narrow race to a popular good old boy Democrat, Lawton Chiles. That was a good year for Republicans, and it was shocking that Bush got knocked by a relatively unaccomplished incumbent in a change year tilting towards conservativism nationally. In 1998, Jeb won the election against a weak opponent, Buddy McKay, and triumphed in 2002 again against a relatively weak opponent, Bill McBride. Both times he was perceived as a moderate and highly competent Governor in a relatively apathetic state, and he's always able to shield his conservative views from public view because he's in a state level position.
This track record has been compounded by the weirdness of Florida, which is Alabama in the north of the state, Cuba and New York in the south of the state, and the exurbs in the I-4 corridor in the Disney middle. Jeb's conservative politics play well in the north of the state, and have been pretty irrelevant elsewhere. Should he run for Senate, Jeb Bush will have an entirely different experience. If his opponent is Alex Sink, my guess is that he's going to have a really tough time. Sink is a wonderful and highly respected former banker who is now the state's chief financial officer. She's a very very strong opponent, and Bush's background as a semi-corrupt businessman who participated in a scheme to, get this, sell water pumps in Nigeria, will emerge.
Remember, the Bush family is immensely corrupt, but that doesn't emerge unless there's actual scrutiny. Jeb has never been subjected to any such scrutiny, but it's hard to imagine that this situation can continue if he gets a serious contender. The Bush family is in disgrace, and I don't see how that changes in just two years, especially with the rumors flying around about Jeb's personal behavior and business shenanigans.
2010 will probably not be a good year for Democrats, but just because Jeb Bush is popular now doesn't mean that he's necessarily a strong candidate in two years.
(In confluence with Chris's thesis about the growing demographic Democratic base, here's the latest from Project Vote. - promoted by Paul Rosenberg)
The United States saw dramatic increases in voting from traditionally underrepresented groups, including minorities and young voters, according to a new analysis released this week by Project Vote. If borne out by systematic analysis of the voter rolls, this change in the electorate is evidence of the power of successful voter registration drives and an indication of the strong inclination of voters to participate in the process when candidates address their issues.
Two days to go til the election and, surprise surprise, McCain is doing everything from criticizing Obama's patriotism in speeches to pamphleteering many unsubstantiated charges... like Obama favors criminals over police.
In the last two weeks voter registration and early voting has shown that voters are geared up and ready to take part in what has been called a "historical event" on November 4.
The Hillsborough County Chairman here in Florida forwarded an e-mail today that is rascist. There is simply no other way to interpret it. I voted at the precinct in question, which is right next to the County GOP Office. I am so not surprised. It's true - many African-Americans were exercising their right to vote. What could be scarier!!
I always find it interesting that no one ever accuses racists of being anti-American.
Update This is the lead story tonight on the CBS and NBC local 11:00 PM news in Tampa. The CBS local station showed it to USF Students for their reaction. They were stunned....
Back in September, I did a study ranking the number of registered voters per early voting site for each county in Florida in which I found that Pinellas County came in dead last.
As it turns out, this isn't the only problem with Deborah Clark's record as Supervisor of Elections in Pinellas County.
The diary, however, reminded me how easily forgotten the rest of the ballot can be. I can't say that Floridians in Tampa Bay, Florida in general or elsewhere in the country are aware that there vote counts on more than just the presidential election. And it's vital in those down-ballot races for that matter.
While people are sold on Barack Obama, how many of them are aware of or participating in the down ballot races?
(It's "voter fraud" fraud Saturday here at Open Left, and I'm quite pleased to promote this diary from Project Vote, which covers a lot of the key facts, so that I can freely build out from them in some diaries to come. - promoted by Paul Rosenberg)
Scaling the Mountains and Molehills of the "Voter Registration Fraud" Controversy
Weekly Voting Rights News Update
By Erin Ferns and Michael McDunnah
With a constant barrage of allegations against ACORN and other voter registration organizations coming from the McCain-Palin campaign and the Republican National Committee in recent weeks, it's worthwhile to take a look back at this ongoing war between partisan forces on the right and community based voter registration drives-a war that has largely been fought in the media and nowhere else, and which has threatened to drown out real issues in these crucial weeks before the election.
As those of you who read my stuff know, I have been haranguing people like a madman in recent weeks that this thing isn't over, that we should never let up, that we should not be cocky or take anything for granted. And I will say down to the last day that anything could happen, that we don't know what the Bradley effect will be on the Presidential level, that we should keep pouring our heart out until the very last hour. But even I am starting to listen for the sounds of the Fat Lady singing. Even I am reaching for the fork to stick in this turkey.
Barring a truly catastrophic last-minute event or mistake, or a Bradley effect on the Presidential level completely beyond the realm of expectation, this thing is done. To those pundits who said this was McCain's best debate, or that he held his own with Obama, I have to ask: what were you smoking during last night's debate? Obama crushed McCain in that debate, adding to the cumulative effect of the two other Presidential debates and the VP debate: the Democrats are calm and steady and talking about the things that matter to the American people; John McCain is, in the words of Democracy Corps focus group participants last night, a "grumpy old man" (must have read my blog post the other day) and "a jerk." Obama won over undecideds and even McCain leaners last night in all the surveys and focus groups that were done, dominated in his responses to McCain's attacks, and dominated in his discussion of the most important issues, especially health care and the economy.
So with this thing moving so much in our direction, here's what I would do if I were running the Obama campaign:
Cross-posted at Project Vote's blog, Voting Matters Weekly Voting Rights News Update
By Erin Ferns
Monday marked the last day to register to vote before November's presidential election in many states and the conclusion to one of the nation's largest nonpartisan voter registration drives in history. Helping more than 1.3 million of the America's underrepresented young, low-income and minority citizens register to vote, Project Vote and its voter registration drive partner, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), have played a leading role this election cycle in changing the face of the electorate to represent all Americans.
