VOTING Archives • Hightower Lowdown

America’s new political landscape

FOX TV YAKKER Bill O'Reilly was a sad old man on election night. "The white establishment is now the minority," he keened, adding, with a tremulous moan: "It's not a traditional America anymore." Yeah, old w... Read more...

Wall Street, the Kochs, and Rove lost to the people– so let’s make Washington govern for the people

Political thieves are already plotting to steal our 2012 victory As I learned from experience in my "vote-for-me" period, the nature of the political scramble is this: You win some, you lose some. Co... Read more...

Postcards from the frontroads and backroads of the 2010 election campaigns

Corporate money won, but progressives did not lose The day before the election, I sensed a strange karma, as though some diabolical political force was settling across the country like a heavy, almos... Read more...

Full text of Justice John Paul Stevens

Justice Stevens, with whom Justice Ginsburg , Justice Breyer, and Justice Sotomayor join, concurring in part and dissenting in part. The real issue in this case concerns how, not if, the appellant may financ... Read more...

Giving corporations more power to buy politicians of their choice

The Supreme Court's black-robed coup "For too long," wailed the senator in a heart-tugging cry for justice, "some in this country have been deprived of full participation in the political process." ... Read more...

The many REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL after Election Day 2008

Next come the battles for the changes we voted for After casting her ballot for Barack Obama, Amanda Jones said simply, "I feel good about voting for him." Ms. Jones, of Cedar Creek, Texas (a town... Read more...

Political outsiders are the only change we can count on

Whoever wins, we need Kevin, Heather, A.J., Monisha, Stan, Debbie, and Peter At a time when We The People have been vociferously and unequivocally demanding that our political aspirants offer Big Ide... Read more...

Picking McCain’s team

Join us in taking the second part of our Lowdown Presidential Survey--a free-wheeling, thoroughly unscientific poll, asking you Lowdowners to designate people who might serve as officials in the next presidency... Read more...

Heartless Phil and “honorable lobbyists” would run McCain’s White House

Even though a few of them have been dumped from the campaign The political media establishment is enrapturedby John McCain. Mainline media sparklies, as well as the blatherers on the Fox channel, rou... Read more...

Obama slip-sliding away?

Mixed emotions are what you experience when you see your 16-year-old daughter come home from the prom with a Gideon Bible under her arm. You get mixed emotions watching Barack Obama. While he clearly has pro... Read more...

Name that VEEP!

Name that VEEP! WHY SHOULD STAID OLD PUNDITS have all the fun in political guessing games? Let's bring you into play. Join us in taking the Lowdown Presidential Survey--a free-wheeling, thoroughly unscien... Read more...

What Obama calls “old politics”

Old Congress critters never die, they just go to K Street. Take Dennis Hastert. Actually, he's already taken. The longtime Republican lawmaker retired last November, but rather than return to Illinois, he ha... Read more...

If Obama wins, who will be on his team–and who should be?

We'll send him your picks for the pyramid of power There'll be a crush of cameras at the front door of the White House on January 20 as scores of media outlets scramble to record the moment that the ... Read more...

Who are the big-money givers behind the candidates?

Identifying the friends of Clinton, McCain, and Obama: Dallas Oilman H.L. Hunt was a billionaire in a time when such massive wealth was unusual, back in the 1950s and '60s. H.L. was also politically ... Read more...

Corporations that paid-to-play in the last election

The Logo Lowdown, part 2 FROM THE "LAND OF THE CLUELESS AND CONNIVING," meet a couple of gentlemen who insist that America's political funding system is working splendidly. They report that there's a... Read more...

Progressive groups are busting out all over

Hey, there's good news at the grassroots Hey, come on, progressives— buck up! There's been too much doom and gloom—especially among inside-the-beltway progressives—about John Kerry's chances on Nov... Read more...

Millions of Americans are kept from voting

Getting beyond chads and dimples to fix the system When he was a U.S. senator many years ago, Oklahoma's Bob Kerr would occasionally express amazement at some bit of political mischief by declaring, ... Read more...

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