| Subject: news of the day 1/27/05 |
| From: Rick Hasen |
| Date: 1/27/2005, 8:48 AM |
| To: election-law |
I have received both challengers' briefs. The Henderson brief is too
large to post.
Here
is the Woocher brief. I will post other briefs if I receive them and
they are not too large.
Roll Call offers this
short article (paid subscription required) on the latest efforts to
get D.C. residents the right to vote for a congressional representative.
I have just received a copy of Julian Pleasants, Hanging Chads: The Inside Story of the 2000 Presidential Recount in Florida. The book contains interviews with a number of the central actors in the Florida controversy, including Judges Nikki Clark and Terry Lewis.
I also just received Thad Kousser, Term Limits and the Dismantling of State Legislative Professionalism (2005).
Finally, I received a copy of Anthony B. Sanders, In Defense of Vote Buying: How "Nader Traders" Can Defeat Rent Seeking, 26 Hamline Journal of Public Law and Policy 43 (2004).
All three of these studies will go in my (already overloaded!) "to
read" pile.
A.P. offers this
report,
which begins: " A move to prohibit per-head payments to workers who
register voters or get them to the polls was passed Wednesday by the
South Dakota House after a debate that split mostly along party lines."
Thanks to a reader for passing this link along.
U.S. PIRG has issued this report.
>From the executive summary:
Money was as important to candidates in the most recent congressional elections as it has ever been. Our analysis of Federal Election Commission (FEC) campaign finance data for the 2004 election cycle reveals the following:
- Ninety-one (91) percent of 2004 congressional primary candidates who raised the most money won their races.
- Sixty-five (65) percent of all congressional primary elections were uncontested. Anecdotal evidence suggests the role of money in campaigns plays a significant part in discouraging candidates from running.
- Sixty-three (63) percent of 2004 congressional primary candidates’ individual donations came in contributions of at least $1,000—from just 0.08 percent of the voting-age population.
Moreover, according to the Federal Election Commission, campaign fundraising continues to increase at a rate greater than inflation. Winning congressional candidates raised nearly 50 percent more in the 2004 cycle than in a comparable period during the 2002 cycle.
In order to put a human face on this data, we surveyed federal candidates who dropped out of races, lost primaries, or lost general elections. The candidates profiled in this report cite money as a primary reason why they lost or pulled out of their races entirely. Many of the unsuccessful candidates profiled are at least as credible and qualified as the eventual winners. What they lack is something altogether different—personal wealth, access to networks of wealthy donors, or policy positions that appeal to large contributors.
-- Professor Rick Hasen Loyola Law School 919 Albany Street Los Angeles, CA 90015-1211 (213)736-1466 - voice (213)380-3769 - fax rick.hasen@lls.edu http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html http://electionlawblog.org