Campaign 2016 | Praxis

Sanders Delegates Complain of Mistreatment at Hands of Democratic Establishment

On Monday, Sen. Bernie Sanders reiterated his endorsement of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party nominee. On Tuesday, it was made official during the roll call vote, when Sanders himself stood among his Vermont delegation and moved that Clinton be nominated by acclamation. But on Wednesday, some delegates in the Sanders camp complained that Democratic Party officials who manage the convention had treated them as something less than their Clinton-pledged counterparts. Michael Wilson, a Sanders-pledged delegate from California, told me that floor officials attempted to confiscate…

Foreign Governments Have a History of Intervening in American Elections

Something quite remarkable happened this morning. Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee for president, beseeched the government of Russia, a foreign and quasi-hostile country, to hack the private email account of Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” he told a room of flummoxed reporters. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” For those few readers who aren’t up to speed, let’s back up a step. It…

How Do You Poll With a Candidate Like The Donald?

Within the political polling business, the greatest challenge is getting a representative sample of the people who will turn out to vote. Different demographics have different voting patterns which can be difficult to predict. In this year’s presidential race, that challenge is still in place but an even greater one is emerging: survey respondents might be lying when asked to give their opinions. Lying or confused respondents is a common challenge that social scientists have consistently had to deal with over the decades. That’s why the…

Bernie Sanders Tries to Put a Lid on His Revolution

On Monday night, Bernie Sanders, at times, struggled to calm his most ardent supporters, as TV cameras highlighted delegates in tears as he urged them to support Clinton. “Not for sale,” some delegates screamed. Sanders received the warmest applause of the night, basking in prolonged cheers as he took the stage, some of his delegates chanting “It’s not over.” But Democrats ended the night more optimistic than they began it — when failed and frantic attempts by Clinton and Sanders aides to quiet rebellious pro-Sanders…

Ted Cruz’s RNC Speech Torpedoed His Favorability Rating Among Republicans

To the extent we can measure these things, it looks like Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Tex.) big gamble — refusing to endorse Donald Trump at the Republican convention last week — may have been a bad bet, at least with Republicans. A new CNN/ORC poll finds that Cruz’s public image among Republicans dropped some 50 percent from his image pre-convention. Before the convention, almost two-thirds of Republicans had a positive image of him. That’s the kind of likability ratings that politicians who thirst for higher office dream…

Despite Dems’ High Tech Advantages, Lowly Email May Doom Clinton’s Chances

“The DNC documents show this election really wasn’t an election at all. It was a coronation,” said Joshua Rothstein, a 25-year-old comedian from Brooklyn, his cardboard-and-duct tape pitchfork in hand. “Before those documents came out, I would have been happy to support Hillary.” But, he says, “the leaks put me over the edge.” Wasserman Schultz’s departure, especially the day before the convention begins, instantly casts the Democrats as a party in turmoil. That’s a far cry from the image the party hoped to present after…

Why Doesn’t Gary Johnson Criticize Hillary Clinton?

Gary Johnson’s fondness for savaging Republicans gives way to a strange delicacy when Democrats are up for discussion. In a word-association exercise at a CNN town hall, Johnson labeled Clinton a “great public servant” and declined to elaborate. Sure, Johnson’s libertarianism puts him at loggerheads with orthodox conservatives on social and foreign policy. But it should also bring biting reproach of liberals and socialists, who reject constraints on government (like the Constitution) when these stand in the way of a desired result. Johnson, to win…

Kasich, Rest of GOP Leaders Still Haven’t Realized the Bush Foreign Policy Was a Failure

The Republican Party is heir to a failed foreign policy that it has never fully confronted. The man who forced a partial confrontation has just secured the party’s nomination. But the reaction of the party elite appears to be that the best approach is to return, as soon as possible, to the old doctrines and nostrums and that it best to focus, not on the current election, but on establishing the parameters for 2020. How else to interpret Ohio Governor John Kasich’s speech on Tuesday afternoon…

Donald Trump Took the American Right Into Parts Unknown Last Night

In Walt Whitman’s famous poem “Song of Myself,” the unnamed gestalt narrator boasts that he “contains multitudes.” There are few actual people about whom that can be said other than Donald Trump. The billionaire real estate developer has encouraged some of the worst racial and religious characteristics of the American Right but he is also the first truly 21st-century Republican presidential candidate. He made it official in the speech he delivered accepting the GOP’s nomination Thursday night in Cleveland. That dual identity was on display…

Liberals Haven’t Turned Out to Protest Trump’s Convention. Why Not?

Leading up to this year’s Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland, many worried that protests would be large, unruly and violent. […] But chaos hasn’t arrived. In fact, the protests at this year’s RNC are considerably smaller than we’ve seen at recent conventions. Why? The answer is not a newfound love of Donald Trump among social activists. The story is about organization — or rather, the lack of it. The groups interested in protest failed to forge a broad, unifying coalition that could bring together protesters…

Understanding the present is the key to the future