Inside the Campaign Finance Battle

Inside the Campaign Finance Battle
Author: Anthony Corrado
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2004-05-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780815715849

In 2002 Congress enacted the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), the first major revision of federal campaign finance law in a generation. In March 2001, after a fiercely contested and highly divisive seven-year partisan legislative battle, the Senate passed S. 27, known as the McCain-Feingold legislation. The House responded by passing H.R. 2356, companion legislation known as Shays-Meehan, in February 2002. The Senate then approved the House-passed version, and President George W. Bush signed BCRA into law on March 27, 2002, stating that the bill had "flaws" but overall "improves the current system of financing for federal campaigns." The Reform Act was taken to court within hours of the President's signature. Dozens of interest groups and lawmakers who had opposed passage of the Act in Congress lodged complaints that challenged the constitutionality of virtually every aspect of the new law. Following review by a special three-judge panel, the case is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003. This litigation constitutes the most important campaign finance case since the Supreme Court issued its decision in Buckley v. Valeo more than twenty-five years ago. The testimony, submitted by some of the country's most knowledgeable political scientists and most experienced politicians, constitutes an invaluable body of knowledge about the complexities of campaign finance and the role of money in our political system. Unfortunately, only the lawyers, political scientists, and practitioners actually involved in the litigation have seen most of this writing—until now. Ins ide the Campaign Finance Battle makes key testimony in this historic case available to a general readership, in the process shedding new light on campaign finance practices central to the congressional debate on the reform act and to the landmark litigation challenging its constitutionality.

This Is Not Your Father's Democratic Party

This Is Not Your Father's Democratic Party
Author: William Sylvester Noonan
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012-08-25
Genre: United States
ISBN: 9781477600955

"This Is Not Your Father's Democratic Party" is a lively analysis of the Democratic Party told by a multigenerational liberal, with close ties to Massachusetts politics, who abruptly realizes during the special election of Republican Senator Scott Brown, that he finds himself outside the political tent of the contemporary Democratic Party. Political Junkies of all stripes will find it provocative and interesting. The book begins with the election of "Classic Liberal" Woodrow Wilson in 1912 and chronologically traverses the historical circumstances of 20th century as well as the Democratic Party's evolution over the decades. The book discusses the emergence of Lyndon Johnson's "Social Progress" platforms, Bill Clinton's "New Democrats", and culminates a century later with the "Socialist" policies of Barack Obama. Neither a critical missive nor a detailed dissertation by an apostate liberal turned conservative, the book is brilliantly written with an always engaging, humorous and passionate delivery perfect for a book on this subject matter.

The Emerging Democratic Majority

The Emerging Democratic Majority
Author: John B. Judis
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2004-02-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0743254783

ONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR AND A WINNER OF THE WASHINGTON MONTHLY'S ANNUAL POLITICAL BOOK AWARD Political experts John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira convincingly use hard data -- demographic, geographic, economic, and political -- to forecast the dawn of a new progressive era. In the 1960s, Kevin Phillips, battling conventional wisdom, correctly foretold the dawn of a new conservative era. His book, The Emerging Republican Majority, became an indispensable guide for all those attempting to understand political change through the 1970s and 1980s. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, with the country in Republican hands, The Emerging Democratic Majority is the indispensable guide to this era. In five well-researched chapters and a new afterword covering the 2002 elections, Judis and Teixeira show how the most dynamic and fastest-growing areas of the country are cultivating a new wave of Democratic voters who embrace what the authors call "progressive centrism" and take umbrage at Republican demands to privatize social security, ban abortion, and cut back environmental regulations. As the GOP continues to be dominated by neoconservatives, the religious right, and corporate influence, this is an essential volume for all those discontented with their narrow agenda -- and a clarion call for a new political order.

Camelot's End

Camelot's End
Author: Jon Ward
Publisher: Twelve
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2019-01-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1455591378

From a strange, dark chapter in American political history comes the captivating story of Ted Kennedy's 1980 campaign for president against the incumbent Jimmy Carter, told in full for the first time. The Carter presidency was on life support. The Democrats, desperate to keep power and yearning to resurrect former glory, turned to Kennedy. And so, 1980 became a civil war. It was the last time an American president received a serious reelection challenge from inside his own party, the last contested convention, and the last all-out floor fight, where political combatants fought in real time to decide who would be the nominee. It was the last gasp of an outdated system, an insider's game that old Kennedy hands thought they had mastered, and the year that marked the unraveling of the Democratic Party as America had known it. Camelot's End details the incredible drama of Kennedy's challenge -- what led to it, how it unfolded, and its lasting effects -- with cinematic sweep. It is a story about what happened to the Democratic Party when the country's long string of successes, luck, and global dominance following World War II ran its course, and how, on a quest to recapture the magic of JFK, Democrats plunged themselves into an intra-party civil war. And, at its heart, Camelot's End is the tale of two extraordinary and deeply flawed men: Teddy Kennedy, one of the nation's greatest lawmakers, a man of flaws and of great character; and Jimmy Carter, a politically tenacious but frequently underestimated trailblazer. Comprehensive and nuanced, featuring new interviews with major party leaders and behind-the-scenes revelations from the time, Camelot's End presents both Kennedy and Carter in a new light, and takes readers deep inside a dark chapter in American political history.

The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party

The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party
Author: John Nichols
Publisher: Verso Books
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2020-05-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1788737423

Fighting fascism at home and abroad begins with the consolidation of a progressive politics Seventy-five years ago, Henry Wallace, then the sitting Vice President of the United States, mounted a campaign to warn about the persisting "Danger of American Fascism." As fighting in the European and Japanese theaters drew to a close, Wallace warned that the country may win the war and lose the piece; that the fascist threat that the U.S. was battling abroad had a terrifying domestic variant, growing rapidly in power: wealthy corporatists and their allies in the media. Wallace warned that if the New Deal project was not renewed and expanded in the post-war era, American fascists would use fear mongering, xenophonbia, and racism to regain the economic and political power that they lost. He championed an alternative, progressive vision of a post-war world-an alternative to triumphalist "American Century" vision then rising--in which the United States rejected colonialism and imperialism. Wallace's political vision - as well as his standing in the Democratic Party - were quickly sidelined. In the decades to come, other progressive forces would mount similar campaigns: George McGovern and Jesse Jackson more prominently. As John Nichols chronicles in this book, they ultimately failed - a warning to would-be reformers today - but their successive efforts provide us with insights into the nature of the Democratic Party, and a strategic script for the likes of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Remaking the Democratic Party

Remaking the Democratic Party
Author: Hanes Walton
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2016-08-09
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 047211994X

Examining Southern support for Johnson throughout his political career and his transformative leadership of the Democratic Party

The New Democrats and the Return to Power

The New Democrats and the Return to Power
Author: Al From
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2013-12-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137401443

After Barack Obama's solid win in the 2012 election, it's easy to forget that there was a time, not long ago, when the Democrats were shut out of power for over a decade. But Al From remembers. In 1984, he led a small band of governors, US senators, and members of Congress to organize the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). Their mission: to rescue the party from the political wilderness, redefine its message, and, most importantly, win presidential elections. In April 1989, From traveled to Little Rock, Arkansas, to recruit the state's young governor, Bill Clinton, to be chairman of the DLC. Here, Al From explores the founding philosophy of the New Democrats, which not only achieved stunning validation during Clinton's two terms, but also became the model for resurgent center-left parties in Europe and throughout the democratic world. Here, he outlines for the first time the principles at the heart of the movement, including economic centrism, national security, and entitlement reform, and why they are vital to the success of the Democratic Party in the years ahead.

Take Back Our Party

Take Back Our Party
Author: James Kwak
Publisher:
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2020-02-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781947492431

Once upon a time, the Democrats were the party of the people-of the New Deal, unions, and the War on Poverty. The New Democrats, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama changed all that. Scarred by the Reagan Revolution, they abandoned their party's historical identity. They embraced the idea that markets are the source of prosperity and government's role is to nurture private sector growth, which would help both the 1% and the 99%. This idea has failed. Inequality has grown to historic proportions, and many families struggle with constant economic insecurity. In choosing markets over people, the party abandoned lower- and middle-income families-and by 2016, they no longer knew what the Democrats stood for. If we are to reverse the tide of inequality and to defend our country from President Trump and the Republicans, we must take back our party. It is time to restore the vision of Franklin Roosevelt: that a decent society takes care of all its citizens and ensures them the basic necessities of life. It is time for the Democratic Party to represent the people once again.

Party Mandates and Democracy

Party Mandates and Democracy
Author: Elin Naurin
Publisher: New Comparative Politics
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2019-03-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0472131214

Contrary to public opinion, election promises are often fulfilled