In Congress today, a House committee passed the Fair Elections Now Act, an historic achievement for the public campaign movement; however, it is unclear if the bill will be taken up on the floor before the House recesses in a few weeks for election campaigning. Meanwhile, by a vote of 59-39, Senate Democrats failed to [...]
We have a challenge for you. Democracy North Carolina can’t support particular candidates, but we can promote a big turnout of conscientious voters. And you can help. Right now, we’re in the middle of a giant voter mobilization campaign designed to target, educate and turn out 100,000 North Carolina voters who support Voter-Owned Elections BUT [...]
Update on yesterday’s post: As another benefit from the federal health care reform law, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina announced it will refund $155.8 million to about 215,000 individual Blue Advantage policyholders in the state – or about $690 for the typical customer. In more good news, NC Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin [...]
Contrary to the right-wing cry to “get government off my back,” the NC Council of Churches and the national coalition, Faithful Reform in Health Care, point out that government can help people solve problems. The coalition released a list of nine new benefits that begin this week because of the federal health care reform law. Families [...]
The Fair Elections Now Act (which would provide Congressional candidates with a public campaign financing option) is slated for its first historic vote next week. The Committee on House Administration will “mark up” the bill on September 23 and hopefully vote to move it forward on its journey through Congress. The New York Times, many [...]
If you’re looking for a nail-biting close election, welcome to North Carolina in 2010. The NC Republican Party is excited about the prospect of gaining majority control of the state Senate for the first time since 1898, but Democrats believe they will narrowly hold their majority. A handy race-by-race projection from an astute analyst who [...]
Check out this Facebook feature about North Carolina’s US Rep. Heath Shuler. He wants to hear something from you.
Some updates: The company trying to build a giant cement factory near Wilmington (LINK, Feb. 13, 2010) has changed its legal and lobbying team, abandoning the McGuireWoods firm that once boasted having former Gov. Mike Easley and several of his associates on its payroll. Easley and Ruffin Poole have left McGuireWoods, and some key legislative [...]
The up-coming use of the Instant Runoff Voting method to fill a vacancy on the NC Court of Appeals is beginning to get more media attention, which is good. But the 13 candidates in the race deserve attention, too; IRV works best when voters know more about the candidates. To help, a Special Edition of [...]
NC Congressmen Larry Kissell and Bobby Etheridge, both Democrats, will be blasted with $1.4 million worth of attack ads in the next month by the anti-government Americans for Job Security. Like many front groups designed to help a narrow segment of the super-rich, AJS uses emotional themes tied to fear, greed and insecurity to sway [...]