Policy Today - Political Parties (Political Process)

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES TO NOWHERE?

Details: Category: Political Parties (Political Process); Published: Monday, 29 October 2007; Written by PT Editors

Missing in Iowa: a dose of Midwestern common sense?

In Meredith Wilson’s 1957 Broadway hit, The Music Man, Professor Harold Hill arrives in Iowa to sell the citizens of River City a boys’ band. Fifty years later, a handful of US Senators and other politicians descended on the state to sell them a Presidential election. Wilson’s story had a happy ending. Bags packed and skipping town, Hill falls in love with Marian Paroo, the town librarian, and sticks around to make good on his word. The politicos were out of Iowa faster than a marching band, stymied only by the country’s creaky air traffic control system which grounded them at Des Moines International for a few extra hours. (See, “Infrastructure Story,” following.) Moving on, they’ve since hit New Hampshire, Nevada, and soon several larger states.

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES II

Details: Category: Political Parties (Political Process); Published: Monday, 29 October 2007; Written by PT Editors

The ideas sound wonderful, but without the political machinery to make them happen, are they any more than make-believe?

Americans like a good fight, and the presidential primaries have certainly provided that. By now, voters have narrowed the field to 3-4 likely choices for America’s 45th President:

Q&A: OR State Senator Avel Gordly

Details: Category: Political Parties (Political Process); Published: Wednesday, 28 March 2007; Written by PT Editors

Concerned about growing partisanship in the legislature, Oregon lawmakers created a public commission to turn the mirror on themselves. Senator Avel Gordly, one of four legislators to serve on the commission, talks to PT about her experience, the commission's findings and the importance of relationships between policy-makers.