"Poll rejects special election; Voters prefer regular
ballot in June 2006"
The Los Angeles Daily News offers this
report. The poll is here. In
somewhat related commentary, Michael Hiltzik writes Touting
Initiatives, Eschewing Principles in the LA Times.
"White House rebukes Rep. Weldon over fundraising
tours"
A.P. offers this
report,
which begins: "U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon has received a scolding from the
Bush administration over his fundraising letter promising donors a
White House tour if they bought $2,500 tickets to a dinner honoring the
president."
"Amway's ruling families are biggest political
spenders, study finds"
A.P. offers this
report, based upon this
fascinating new report from the Center for Public Integrity. Roll
Call also offers this
story (paid subscription required) on the study.
Bauer on the As-Applied BCRA Case (WRTL)
See here.
My earlier coverage is here.
"A Second Look at Third Parties: Correcting the
Supreme Court's Understanding of Elections"
Dmitri Evseev has posted this
draft on SSRN (forthcoming Boston University Law Review). Here is
the abstract:
This Article identifies and challenges the background
assumptions underlying the Supreme Court's treatment of minor political
parties in ballot-access cases; simultaneously it shows that the
balancing test employed in this context is appropriate and well suited
to a more informed analysis than the Court has typically chosen to
undertake. The case law on ballot-access is often doctrinally
inconsistent, yet almost always unfavorable to minor parties and
protective of the two dominant ones. The decisions appear to rely on an
unduly narrow definition of the function of elections and on a
misunderstanding of the role played by minor political parties within
the context of our two-party system. In fact, both competitive and
deliberative theories of elections justify a more protective approach
to the interests of third parties, while the legal and practical
mechanisms promoting the two major parties make the Court's concerns
about political stability largely irrelevant. Fortunately, the
conventional balancing test in Anderson v. Celebrezze, if properly
applied, could contain all the inquiries necessary for a more accurate
weighing of the relevant considerations. Thus, it is not essential for
courts in these cases to apply strict scrutiny or any of the more
esoteric approaches advocated in the literature in order to render
judgments that are more consistent with contemporary scholarly
understandings of the electoral process.
"Council says no to mail-in election"
See this
report from the San Diego Union-Tribune on the special
election to replace resigning mayor Dick Murphy. See also this
earlier coverage.