Rights and Democracy
Cleaning Up Campaign Finance
If there were ever any hope that the Supreme Court’s right wing would temper its assault on clean elections laws, that hope recently slipped away. In a five-four decision issued at the end of June, the Court’s conservative majority — the same five men who issued 2010’s Citizens United ruling — reversed Montana’s century-old ban on corporate spending on elections without even hearing its defense.
Letters to the Editor: Readers Respond to Kaul’s Departure, Part II
Don’t quit now. We need your insights and opinions.
Letters to the Editor: Readers Respond to Kaul’s Departure
“Get well and keep us sensible folk in mind. The crazies are taking over. You have more great observations to make.”
—Ann Bevington
The Lineup: Week of July 23-29, 2012
This week’s OtherWords editorial package features the last Donald Kaul column we’ll run — either forever, or for a while. Don explains his indefinite hiatus in his own words, I pay tribute to him in my column, and Khalil Bendib’s cartoon celebrates his brilliant legacy.
The African-American Swing State
The list of 2012 swing states includes Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, Nevada, Iowa, Virginia, North Carolina, and Colorado. Whichever candidate carries these “battlegrounds,” where neither presidential candidate currently has a clear lead, will probably win the election.
Donald Kaul’s Breather
Donald Kaul’s latest column is also his last — either forever or until he changes his mind.
Donald Kaul Signs Off
A New Kind of Scrutiny on the Campaign Trail
It used to be that journalists would join major candidates on the campaign trail, following them from coffee shops to parades and beyond as they tried to woo supporters and votes.
Year of the Gaffe
Maybe you think the presidential election will come down to the issues. That would mean looking at how Barack Obama and Mitt Romney differ on important matters — or, in many cases, how they don’t. Or perhaps the election might be all about money, and the shadowy Super PACs that will bombard us with TV advertising.
Pennsylvania’s High-Profile Pedophile Scandals
In one of those strange coincidences that make life read like a cheap novel, Jerry Sandusky and Monsignor William Lynn were convicted at almost the same moment by two Pennsylvania juries of charges growing out of sex scandals involving the molestation of underage youngsters.
