Notice:  Posting will resume on Monday, Sept. 1.

McCain and Attack Ads

     In considering how times change, there is this:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jOsi2B4d7U, to be viewed before the epilogue, which is found here.

     John McCain has explicitly related campaign finance law to what, in the Swift Boats matter, he denounced as “dishonest and dishonorable” political advertising. 

Bye Bye to the Gift Bag

     The Washington Post has scanned the convention horizon and found a clearing, a definite improvement.  The gift bag, it writes, is dead.  Partying goes on. But there is more “caution,” more restraint, fairly credited to the 2007 ethics reform.

The Right to Vote in a Change Election

Notes on the Occasion of a Program on Voting Rights and Administration at the Democratic National Convention

     This is the election to choose the successor to an incumbent who took office by order of the Supreme Court.  In these eight years, the resolve has strengthened, in our party, to stop this from happening again, to have elections decided by the free choice of voters.  

     Much has been done to match this resolve; much has not.

At the Commission Today: A Question of What Can Be Said to the Voters

     The Federal Election Commission will today consider a question raised  by the Virginia Democratic Party about the proposed distribution of literature under a statutory exemption for “slate cards” and other “printed listings” of candidates.

     So what, you ask?

Also...

Developments as the Federal Election Commission Prepares to Consider the McCain Case  8/20/08

The Research Battle in the Reform War  8/19/08

The McCain Matching Fund Case: Part Two  8/18/08

First Observations on the McCain Primary Matching Fund Case  8/15/08

The Wal-Mart Matter  8/14/08

“Vote Fraud” and the Question of Denial  8/13/08

The Center for Competitive Politics Answers on Public Financing, and Against It: and a Reply  8/12/08

Not Exactly “Honoring” Our Veterans: The VA and Its Policy on Voter Registration  8/11/08

The Center for Competitive Politics and the Case for and against Public Funding Programs  8/8/08

Re-thinking How, or in What Ways, McCain-Feingold Affected Corporate Support for 527s  8/7/08