Campaigns & Elections articles from September 2006

Campaigns & Elections archives from September 2006

Editor's note.(opposition parties, negative campaignsd)(Editorial)
September 1, 2006... Opposition research often drives dirty politics, but let's be candid: oppo (as it's called) makes things interesting in no small part because of its potential to ruin the candidate as much as the mudslinger. Most major campaigns and both major...

Make a deal, get a donation.(political fund raising)
September 1, 2006... It's a commonly held notion that politicians will do almost anything for money. And some politicians earn that money in interesting ways. Want to play pingpong with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger? If you promise to donate to his...

The constant candidate.
September 1, 2006... Every election cycle, there are a few things you can count on seeing: bumper stickers, lawn signs, television ads and Christopher Hansen. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Hansen and many others like him are what some call "perennial...

The greatest opposition research of all time.
September 1, 2006... Politicians and their staffers have been muckraking for embarrassing information about opponents throughout American history. While some finds have ruined political careers, others have proved to be surmountable obstacles. According to...

Alabama.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The mother-in-law of defeated candidate Gaynell Hendricks challenged the results of the Democratic primary runoff for a Birmingham-area House District. Mattie Childress claimed that the primary winner (who has no Republican opponent), Patricia...

Alaska.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Republican Sen. Ted Stevens has added several new people to his communications staff. The new staff claims that the change has nothing to do with Stevens' embarrassing statements about the Internet being "a series of tubes" that earned him the...

Arizona.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Gov. Janet Napolitano made a large, but ultimately unsuccessful, effort to get the Democratic National Committee's rules and bylaws committee to choose her state to hold a presidential primary between the one in Iowa and New Hampshire's...

Arkansas.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... While many continue to speculate whether Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will run for president in 2008, the political world's most famous dieter has announced one November race he'll run. He plans to take part in the New York City Marathon on Nov....

California.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... In November Californians vote on Proposition 89, an initiative to publicly finance campaigns, similar to laws already on the books in Arizona, Maine and Oregon. Prop 89 would require that candidates receive a certain number of $5 donations from...

Colorado.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Two major congressional primary races were decided in Colorado in August. In the 5th District, state Sen. Doug Lamborn emerged from a tough six-way Republican primary. Barring a huge upset, he should beat Democrat Jay Fawcett in November to...

Connecticut.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... A record-breaking 43 percent of voters turned out to give political newcomer Ned Lamont a victory over three-term incumbent U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in the August Democratic primary. Lamont won by about 10,000 votes, or 4 percent of the vote....

Delaware.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... U.S. Sen. Joe Biden continues to take heat for his comments about Indian-Americans. Biden remarked that in his state, "You cannot go into a 7-Eleven or Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent." The senator has since attempted to...

Florida.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The Senate primary campaign of U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris has been dogged by yet another wave of staff resignations and a corruption investigation. There has been speculation that Harris may withdraw from the general election race if she wins...

Georgia.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Nearly 700,000 registered voters may be ineligible to vote, unless the state can come up with a more accurate voter list. A law passed earlier this year requiring voters to present government-issued photo ID at the polls would disqualify...

Hawaii.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The Native Hawaiian Recognition Act, nicknamed the "Akaka Bill" after U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, failed to become a law. The bill would have enabled native Hawaiians to establish their own government, tax structure, land base and potentially...

Idaho.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Bill Sali's campaign for the state's 1st District got some help from the GOP fund-raising Retain Our Majority Program. ROMP is the creation of former House Majority Leader Tom Delay to raise money for candidates in close races. The state...

Illinois.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Gov. Rod Blagojevich has refused to comment on why his campaign owed more than $700,000 in legal fees to Chicago law firm Winston & Strawn. Blagojevich's GOP opponent, state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, has criticized him because the firm is...

Indiana.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched part of a $1.5 million television ad campaign against Rep. Jim Hostettler in late August. The DCCC is channeling heavy amounts of support to Vanderburgh County Sheriff Brad Ellsworth whom...

Iowa.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell, who faces a tough run to win re-election against Republican state Sen. Jeff Lamberti, recently reported the biggest bankroll among Iowa's congressional candidates. He reported $1,093,465 cash on...

Kansas.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Problems at the state's polling sites during last month's primary were due to human error, according to a report released following the primary. The Sedgwick County Voters' Coalition observed poll workers giving incomplete responses to voters'...

Kentucky.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Franklin County Judge Sam McNamara released more than 100 pages of e-mail sent from or received by Gov. Ernie Fletcher's former state e-mail address. Most of the e-mail dealt with budget and emergency response issues, but one of them involved...

Louisiana.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... In the race for secretary of state, GOP candidate Mike Francis, the former chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party, won an endorsement from U.S. Senator John McCain, R-Ariz. Another major Republican candidate is state Sen. Jay Dardenne of...

Maine.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Earlier this summer, the state Democratic Party filed a complaint claiming that Republican Chandler Woodcock and independent Barbara Merrill appeared to conspire to qualify for public financing of their campaigns under Maine's Clean Election...

Maryland.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Joseph F. Steffen Jr., a former aide to Gov. Robert Ehrlich, said he and workers in the governor's appointments office targeted workers for termination based on their political affiliations. Democrats contend the firings were an attempt to...

Massachusetts.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... When a ceiling panel fell from one of the interstate highway tunnels created by the $14.6 billion Big Dig, it killed a woman. The fiscal costs are yet untold, and so are the political implications, with Gov. Mitt Romney reprising his...

Michigan.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Michigan's Board of State Canvassers had its hands full this summer as the many ballot proposals that could go to voters this fall came in for certification. Voters get a chance to decide if school funding gets guaranteed increases. The K-16...

Minnesota.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Political observers were given a big surprise two years ago when voters in the traditional Republican stronghold of Edina, a suburb of Minneapolis, overwhelmingly chose John Kerry for president. This year's election tests whether that was a...

Mississippi.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... One appointment and three deaths have left the state legislature with four open seats--two in the House and two in the Senate. Gov. Haley Barbour is expected to call special elections to coincide with the Nov. 7 general election. The GOP...

Missouri.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The American Civil Liberties Union is representing Democratic elected officials in Jackson County and St. Louis City and County in a lawsuit that challenges the state's new voter ID law. The law, signed by Gov. Matt Blunt in June, requires...

Montana.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Those hoping for a recall election for Dillon Mayor Marty Malesich aren't lucky--yet. District Judge Loren Tucker threw out a recall petition because the petitions did not have the required warning and reasoning for recall on each page. The...

Nebraska.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Interest groups have spent millions of dollars on petition drives for ballot initiatives. America at Its Best paid for an $835,000 petition drive to limit state spending. They were outspent by the Committee for Better Schools and More Jobs in...

Nevada.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons must rue the day he ever decided to borrow some lines from a speech made by Alabama State Auditor Beth Chapman. In a 2005 21-paragraph speech, the GOP congressman used 15 paragraphs from Chapman's 2003 support-the-troops...

New Hampshire.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... With the help of potential presidential candidates and a renewed intensity of those involved, races for the state Senate could be the most expensive in history and possibly the most exciting races on ballots this fall. Currently Republicans...

New Jersey.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... President Bush and the war in Iraq are both unpopular with New Jerseyans, and that's a problem for Republican Tom Kean Jr. in his U.S. Senate race against incumbent Democrat Robert Menendez. But Democrats here aren't regarded much better after...

New Mexico.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... In Republican Heather Wilson's bid to keep her job as the U.S. representative for the 1st District, she accused Democratic challenger Patricia Madrid of not doing her job as the state's attorney general. Madrid did not look into corruption...

New York.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Unless something major occurs, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer will become governor in January, resulting in Democratic control of the executive branch. However, the state Senate could also be up for grabs; the Democrats only need to win...

North Carolina.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... A former state House member's guilty plea to a federal conspiracy charge has brought more scrutiny to the man who benefited from his party switch, Democratic House Speaker Jim Black. Former Rep. Michael Decker pleaded guilty to conspiracy to...

North Dakota.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... North Dakota's congressional delegation is sending a letter to President Bush asking him to tour drought-stricken areas across the Midwest. More than 60 percent of the country is experiencing drought or drought-like conditions, and North Dakota...

Ohio.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Ohio voters may have up to five initiatives to think about for the November ballot. Groups filed petitions for smoking, gambling and minimum wage. It is possible that not all the initiatives will make it onto the ballot, as the board of...

Oklahoma.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... State Sen. Nancy Riley "divorced" the Republican Party in early August, widening the Democrats' small majority from 26 to 22. Riley said she was leaving the GOP because moderate Republicans in the state Senate were being pushed aside by...

Oregon.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... A former Portland City Council candidate may have fled the state to avoid paying the money she owes taxpayers for her publicly funded campaign. Democrat Emilie Boyles missed the Aug. 1 deadline to return $92,425.48 that the state auditor said...

Pennsylvania.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann is publishing a 143-page book of his plan to improve Pennsylvania. The book, called "A New Direction: A Plan for a Better Pennsylvania," will be given out at campaign events, or can be ordered from...

Rhode Island.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The Republican Rapid Responders, a self-described group of experienced campaigners based in Virginia, wants volunteers to go to Rhode Island to help U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee before the Sept. 12 primary. Chafee is running against Cranston Mayor...

South Carolina.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... July is typically a time when candidates can rest after tough primary fights. But some important news was made after statewide candidates filed their campaign finance reports. Republican Gov. Mark Sanford begins the fall campaign with $4.2...

South Dakota.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Jack Billion, a Democratic candidate for governor, is bringing South Dakota in to the MySpace age. The 67-year-old launched his profile on MySpace.com, a social gathering place for teens and young adults. South Dakota hasn't elected a...

Tennessee.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Highway troopers with no political ties may wish they had friends in high places about now. State Safety Commissioner Gerald Nicely has promoted 13 officers, most of whom are either politically tied to Tennessee politicos or have donated to...

Texas.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Gubernatorial candidates have started their mudslinging over campaign donations. Gov. Rick Perry has accused comptroller and gubernatorial challenger Carole Keeton Strayhorn of mixing politics and tax policy by accepting $325,000 in campaign...

Utah.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Two-term Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson announced in late July that he would not run for re-election, leaving the race wide open. The election is still over a year away, but former City Councilor Keith Christensen has already announced his...

Vermont.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Voters in Vermont that are sick of campaign commercials should unplug their TV sets until Election Day. By mid-August, candidates for the two open seats of the state's three seats had already spent astronomical amounts of money on advertising....

Virginia.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Now that Virginia's Democratic Senate primary is a distant memory, the race between incumbent U.S. Sen, George Allen and Republican-turned-Democrat former Navy Secretary Jim Webb has become fully engaged. But so far, the rules of engagement are...

Washington.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell's most vocal opponent in the upcoming Democratic primary dropped out and joined her campaign. Mark Wilson had been running hard against the incumbent, hammering her for supporting the Iraq War. His anti-war focus...

West Virginia.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... A witness in a federal vote-buying case managed to evade being charged with election fraud by being sent to jail for an unrelated charge of distributing crack cocaine. John Wyatt Collins, a precinct captain in the Ranger area was granted...

Wisconsin.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Fair Wisconsin, a group opposing a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and civil unions, reported raising $1.3 million and spending $218,000 in the first half of 2006. Fair Wisconsin started running TV ads beginning in early...

Wyoming.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Republican gubernatorial candidate Ray Hunkins has made methamphetamine use one of his pet issues in his campaign. He has proposed an educational program to prevent teenagers from using the drug; it would include a one-day conference for...

Tyson Organization Inc.(Kay Casstevens)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The Tyson Organization Inc. has hired Kay Casstevens to be its D.C. consultant; the home office is in Fort Worth, Texas, and the position is a new one for the Democratic/non-partisan organization. Casstevens worked as chief of staff to U.S....

Wal-Mart.(Leslie Dach )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... PR giant Edelman has announced changes in its executive staff. President Leslie Dach is leaving to become executive vice president for corporate affairs and government relations for Wal-Mart, one of Edelman's clients. General Manager Rob Rehg...

Fleishman-Hillard.(David T. Senay )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Not one to be left behind, fellow PR giant Fleishman-Hillard is mixing things up, too, naming David T. Senay president and chief executive. Senay, who has been with the company since 1984, was promoted from regional president and senior...

Foley & Lardner.(Christopher Kise, Joseph Colaneri )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Foley & Lardner, a law firm based in Tallahassee, Fla., has pulled in Florida's Solicitor General, Christopher Kise, from the public sector to head its national appellate practice, as well as join the litigation department and white-collar...

March of Dimes.(Amanda Molk, Colleen Sonosky )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The March of Dimes has bulked up its team. Amanda Molk has been named deputy director of federal affairs, replacing Emil Wigoe, and Colleen Sonosky has been named public policy research director, replacing Lisa Potetz. Molk leaves the National...

Campus Progress.(Adam Jentleson )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Adam Jentleson has been promoted from policy and advocacy manager of Campus Progress, a project of the Center for American Progress, to manager of Congressional affairs for the left-leaning think tank. His job at Campus Progress has not yet...

Millennium Pharmaceuticals.(Michael Eging )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Millennium Pharmaceuticals named Michael Eging vice president of government relations. Most recently, he was a lobbyist for Hoffman-La Roche, where he worked on the public policy and government affairs team.

National Association of Manufacturers.(Bruce Sisler)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The National Association of Manufacturers made Bruce Sisler regional manager for the New Jersey region. In this public affairs job, he'll work to help the association's members get in touch with members of Congress. Sisler previously...

M+R Strategic Services.(Melissa Salmanowitz )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Washington, D.C.-based public affairs firm M+R Strategic Services has hired Melissa Salmanowitz as a senior communications consultant. Salmanowitz had been at Burson Marsteller, where she worked on corporate, public affairs, technology and...

Former U.S. Rep.(Martin Frost, Polsinelli Shalton Welte Suelthaus)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Former U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas, becomes a lobbyist for the Missouri law firm Polsinelli Shalton Welte Suelthaus. He'll work in the Washington office. Since joining the private sector, Frost has worked at the Woodrow Wilson...

Center for Public Integrity.(Brad Glanzrock)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Samuel Stein has left his position as press secretary at the Center for Public Integrity. Brad Glanzrock has moved up from researcher to fill Stein's role.

Northeast Region of the National Federation of Independent Business.(Charles B. Currier )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Charles B. Currier has been named the political director of the Northeast Region of the National Federation of Independent Business. The Northeast Region includes the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New...

Dykema Gossett PLLC.(Hal Stratton )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Hal Stratton has joined the government policy department in the Washington, D.C., office of Dykema Gossett PLLC, a law firm based in Detroit. Most recently, he was chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Nancy Nord is the...

FlashReport.(Jon Fleischman)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Jon Fleischman, author of FlashReport, is opening his own consulting firm in Irvine, Calif., an opportunity that should give him even more fodder for the tip sheet that covers California. Fleischman leaves his day job as the deputy director for...

ABC PAC.(weblogs)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Republicans have started ABC PAC as their answer to Democrats' ActBlue. The organization has launched "Right Roots," taking a cue from NetRoots. RightRoots is an alliance of Republican bloggers who have endorsed 15 congressional candidates. ABC...

Campbell Crane & Associates.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Lobbying firm Campbell Crane & Associates has split. Daniel Crane left the Washington, D.C.-based group to start the Crane Group. His clients include the California Fire Foundation's Team SAFE-T, the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York, Chubb...

Ten questions for Michael Gehrke: inside opposition research.(Interview)
September 1, 2006... Michael Gehrke grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. He received both his B.A. and his J.D. from the University of Utah. He has worked on campaigns in Colorado, Kentucky, Louisiana and other places. He served as the research director for the DNC,...

Ten questions for Gary Maloney: inside opposition research.(Interview)
September 1, 2006... Gary Maloney is president of the Jackson-Alvarez Group, a research and communications firm in Alexandria, Va. He has spent the last 25 years in politics working for seven presidential campaigns and hundreds of races for senate, governor and...

Inside politics: campaign consultant sign-ups.
September 1, 2006... Adelstein/Liston/D -- media Cary Kennedy, CO, state Treasurer '06 Patrick Lynch (in), RI, Attorney General '06 Advancing Strategies/R -- general George Allen (in), VA, Sen. '06 Vern Buchanan, FL, H13 '06 Advantage...

Identity theft on the campaign trail.(FEATURE)
September 1, 2006... Jay Foley recently fielded calls in his office at the Identity Theft Resource Center from two campaign donors who were worried about how their credit card information would be handled. One donor had given money to a congressional campaign, the...

Is online polling.
September 1, 2006... The way political pollster John Zogby sees it, online polling is a ship that has already sailed and is proving itself as the vessel of choice for quickly, cheaply and accurately handicapping campaigns. Anyone in his business who has not caught...

Case study: Minnesota's opposition research debacle.
September 1, 2006... He hired an investigative firm to dig up dirt on a public official, and it dug up more than he said he wanted. And, nobody believed his insistence that he paid $200 for the probe in a business where fees usually start in the thousands of...

From promising candidate to dropout.(Matt Entenza )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... August 2005 The Republican blog "Minnesota Democrats Exposed" reports that state Rep. Matt Entenza had hired a Chicago opposition research firm to dig up dirt on current Attorney General Matt Hatch. Entenza tells the St. Paul Pioneer Press...

Swedes go to the polls.
September 1, 2006... Swedes hit the polls on Sept. 17 to elect a new "riksdag," national parliament, as well as members of the 21 regional parliaments and numerous city councils. Unemployment, health care and crime dominate voters' minds in this Nordic...

This month around the World.(Estonia, Gambia, Sweden)
September 1, 2006... ESTONIA Election: President Date: September [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The president is elected by the 101-seat parliament to a five-year term. The president must win by two-thirds of the vote in the assembly. If after two rounds...

One race at a time.
September 1, 2006... A full two years away from the greatest political show on Earth (the 2008 presidential election), numerous stories have been devoted to Those Who Would Be President. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Before another candidate heads to New...

YouTube and you.(websites)
September 1, 2006... The explosive success of a Web site called YouTube marks the latest milestone in the epic transition from television to video. YouTube is an online video repository. After scarcely a year in existence, it attracts nearly one out of every 25...

Tough proposition: Arizona ruling poses problems for "motor voter".
September 1, 2006... A recent federal court ruling promises to intensify the national debate over efforts to prevent voting fraud. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The issue came up after Arizona voters passed Proposition 200 in 2004. The new law, which takes effect...

Pop goes the politician.(Sunlight Foundation creates new weblog)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Bloggers steer a good amount of the political discourse nowadays, discussing both policy and politics. Some bloggers may link to a bill number, representative's Web site or even a recent news story concerning the bill or the politician. In...

iPolitician.
September 1, 2006... Those little white ear buds. In Washington, you see them in the ears of everyone from interns to busy commuters on the Metro. Most people use them to hear music and watch videos. Some listen to pod-casts to catch up with their favorite radio...