Two key political contests slated for next Tuesday in Pennsylvania may offer some insight into whether a growing anti-incumbent sentiment will be enough to shift the political landscape nationwide.
Executive News Director at WHYY in Philadelphia, Chris Satullo, on the race; headlines.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced his resignation yesterday, opening the door of 10 Downing Street for Conservative leader David Cameron to step in.
It’s decision time in the U.K. today: Voters in Britain are casting their votes in the general election – and it’s the most unpredictable election in a generation.
Laura Lynch is the London-based correspondent for PRI’s The World. She’s already exercised her right to vote this morning and will be heading down to Parliament green to cover the election later today.
The first multi-party elections held in Sudan in two decades began Sunday. In a complex three-day balloting process, Sudanese are choosing not only their president, but also their national and state assemblies, their governors and other local officials.
Election officials in Ukraine say they've now counted 93 per cent of the votes cast in Sunday's presidential election and that the opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych is still in the lead. However, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, refuses to admit defeat. She has appealed to her election team around the country to fight for every vote.
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts of The Miami Herald looks at ideological divides in the U.S., responses to the earthquake in Haiti, and the way the nation talks about race.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court effectively overturned The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, the campaign finance reform passed in 2002. Senators John Mcain (R-Ariz.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) designed the law to limit the influence of big business and labor unions on elections.
We've gotten many, many calls and email messages this week from you, our listeners, about the special election in Massachusetts, the chances for national health care reform and yesterday's Supreme Court ruling.
The Supreme Court's decision yesterday in Citizens United v. FEC will significantly change the legal landscape for campaign finance, allowing corporations, unions and other organizations to spend as much as they like for ads supporting a particular candidate or party.
Today's Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC represents the most significant campaign finance and perhaps First Amendment decision we've seen from the Court in a very long time. The decision struck down the part of the McCain/Feingold campaign finance law (BCRA) that banned corporations and unions from using their treasury funds to run candidate specific ads before a federal election. The decision treats corporations like individuals, focusing on the value of their speech as opposed to the unique identity of the corporation as speaker. Previous decisions, now overruled, had held that corporations presented a unique corruption threat to the political process: "that immense aggregations of wealth [amassed] through the corporate form" posed dangers that individual expenditures did not.
First off, a personal note: Yes, I was wrong about Massachusetts. I predicted Martha Coakley would likely find a way to win in one of the bluest states in the nation. I also said I was fine with being wrong. So there you go, my crystal ball didn't account for a Democratic blunder this big.
Now then, onto the business at hand:
Republican Scott Brown has won the late Ted Kennedy’s former Senate seat after a heated battle in Massachusetts. Brown handily defeated Democratic candidate Martha Coakley. The win for Brown is a major defeat for Democrats, who can no longer muster 60 votes to overcome frequent Republican filibusters in the Senate.
President Obama completes his first year in office today, and the excitement and euphoria that characterized his inauguration has turned to skepticism and doubt about his agenda.
The Democratic Party found out this week that two of its stars will be setting: Senators Christopher Dodd from Connecticut and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota – who’ve served a combined 46 years in the Senate. Both announced they will not seek reelection in 2010.
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter followed their lead and also announced yesterday he’s ending his bid to keep his seat. These retirements come on top of a string of party defections and seem to weaken the Democrats... With us this morning to look at the political landscape and history, as well as what’s at stake for both Democrats and Republicans, is Jeff Zeleny from The New York Times. We're also joined by Ron Kaufman, former White House political director; Republican National Committeeman for Massachusetts, and a close friend and advisor to Mitt Romney. Kaufman talks about what Republicans' strategy should be for the 2010 midterm elections.
Since the disputed presidential elections in Iran over the summer, there have been a series of protests, the latest, on Sunday, ending in at least 8 fatalities. How does today’s unrest in Iran compare – if it does at all – to the demonstrations which preceded the Iranian Revolution 30 years ago in 1979? We talk with Baqer Moin, the former head of the BBC Persian Service, and Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Iranian studies at Columbia University, about whether the country is headed for another revolution.
Violence erupted in Tehran yesterday, leaving at least 8 people dead. The deaths came after police fired upon protesters; one of those killed was the nephew of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leading opposition candidate in fall's presidential election. L.A. Times Middle East correspondent Borzou Daragahi believes more protests are on their way in Iran. Iran is also facing President Obama's deadline of December 31st to sign a deal that would make Iran ship out its enriched uranium in exchange for nuclear fuel. The U.S. has said that they will pursue tougher U.N. sanctions on Iran if they do not sign the deal.
Tuesday was one the deadliest days in Iraq since October, with more than 127 people dead after a series of coordinated car bomb attacks in Baghdad. The bombers struck after Iraqi lawmakers voted to hold parliamentary elections early next year. But are elections the best course of action for the volatile country? We get two views: from Rachel Schneller, an international affairs fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations; and Rusty Barber, director of Iraq Programs at the United States Institute of Peace.
Read Rachel Schneller's article, "Avoiding Elections at Any Cost in Iraq."
We're watching the story unfold in Tehran today, where student protestors have gathered to express their opposition to the government. Our partner, the BBC, is reporting that riot place have fired live ammunition and used tear-gas and batons against the anti-government protestors. We talk with Hamid Dabashi, professor of Iranian studies and comparative literature at Columbia University.
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