Opinion
The Siren Song of Seniority
The worst possible reason to vote for an incumbent legislator or member of Congress is the argument from seniority.
Opinion
The Incumbency- Protection Device
Because incumbents start a campaign with valuable advantages such as name recognition, challengers must often outspend incumbents to be competitive.
Opinion
Governor Stakes in 2007
The 2007 cycle will feature gubernatorial races in Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It’s quite possible that afterwards, the partisan balance won’t have shifted at all.
Opinion
A Democratic Year in Leg Races
The fact that Republicans are mostly playing defense in N.C. House races, and may not gain what they hoped for in the N.C. Senate, is striking — given some Democratic vulnerabilities.
Opinion
Principle Over Pull Any Day
Incumbent lawmakers, regardless of party, have a favorite slogan for this stage in the campaign: “Re-elect me, or else our district will lose its pull.”
Opinion
No. 910: When Corruption Runs Rampant, Throw the Bums Out!
When public servants become corrupt public tyrants it's time for voters to consider imposing limits on their terms in office.
Opinion
Home Is Where The Dart Is
Should we care where legislators and candidates sleep at night? A modest proposal to end candidate-residency wars and some gerrymandering abuses.
Opinion
Year of Endangered Incumbents
Two pieces of political prognostication seem to offer varying views of party prospects in November, but a more careful reading suggests a commonality.
Opinion
Did my vote matter?
You can make a statistical case against voting, but that's not the only factor at play on Election Day.
Opinion
Talking About Last Summer, Again
Get used to some familiar faces — not only on the big screen, in a year of movie sequels, but also in many 2006 legislative races featuring rematches.
Opinion
Explaining the Pugnacity Quotient
Gov. Mike Easley and Patrick Ballantine met Friday for the second and final gubernatorial debate. Does Easley know something the pundits don’t about the competitiveness of the race?
Opinion
Non-Conjunction Junction, What’s Its Function?
The latest revelation about independent expenditures in the Bowles-Burr race show the absurdity of a campaign-finance system in which no one is supposed to know anything.
