September 17, 1787
Politics
Politics
Gallup: Americans Split on Need for Third Party
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s 46% for a third-party option, 45% against. Gallup finds that result a lower level of support for a third party than in previous polls: Support for a third party has varied substantially since Gallup first asked this question in 2003. It was highest in 2007 and 2010, at 58%. In between those peaks, however,…
City, Politics, Press
What Bill Clinton Correctly Teaches (and What Local Leaders Can Learn from It)
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’m not a Democrat, but I have always admired and respected Bill Clinton’s rhetorical power, a power on display again last night in Charlotte. In a time when few politicians are persuasive, Clinton stands out even more. James Fallows, writing in the Atlantic, in a post entitled, Why Bill Clinton’s Speeches Work,” posits that it’s…
43rd Assembly District, Politics
The 43rd District Assembly Race
by JOHN ADAMS •
In this exciting season of politics – where Americans from one end of this continent to another will peacefully choose their federal, state, and local leaders — one of the many compelling local contests will take place here, in Wisconsin’s 43rd Assembly District. It’s a bad habit to believe that one’s own circumstances are unique…
Nature, Politics, Weather
The Exciting Season
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Ancients saw (as some peoples still see) autumn as the beginning of the year: one’s calendar started when one reaped the harvest. The year began not in the bleak months of winter, but amid the earth’s bounty, made greater through cultivation. Even now, our school year traditionally begins in deference to an agricultural schedule.…
History, Open Government, Politics, Wisconsin
Then and Now
by JOHN ADAMS •
Consider these remarks, from a Wisconsin politician: What is it that is swelling the ranks of the dissatisfied? Is it a growing conviction in state after state, that we are fast being dominated by forces that thwart the will of the people and menace representative government? Do you not know people who feel, as perhaps…
Politics, Poll, US Senate Race 2012, Wisconsin
Questions about the WISGOP Senate Race
by JOHN ADAMS •
Public Policy Polling, a solid pollster, has a poll out today that puts Eric Hovde (28%) in the lead for the GOP Senate race, with Mark Neumann and Tommy Thompson (25%) tied closed behind. There are two weeks to go, and these are close findings, with more campaigning and money yet to be spent. Still,…
City, Politics
No One is Born Stammering
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a scene from the film The King’s Speech where Colin Firth’s George VI insists that he has stammered all his life. Geoffrey Rush, as speech therapist Lionel Logue, tells him that’s impossible, as babies don’t stammer. George VI then admits that he was told he began stammering when he was a few years old,…
Politics
The Implications of the June 13th District Senate Race
by JOHN ADAMS •
The last of my three local topics about the recall was whether 13th Senate District race between Scott Fitzgerald and Lori Compas will have any lasting significance for politics in that area (whether in the new or old 13th District). (For previous posts about the 13th District and its candidates, see The Fitzgerald-Compas Debate in…
Politics, School District
Local Implications of the Recall Results for the Whitewater Unified School District
by JOHN ADAMS •
On Friday, I asked three questions about the implications of the June recall election, and yesterday I wrote about the first of them (implications for the newly redistricted 43rd Assembly district). Today, I’ll look at what the numbers say about the electorate within the Whitewater Unified School District. A map of the district appears immediately…
Politics
Local Implications of the Recall Results for the 43rd Assembly District
by JOHN ADAMS •
Last week, I posted a task list with three questions about the June 5th recall election. Here is the first of those three: What do the June 5th results say, if anything, about how the race in the 43rd Assembly District will finish? In this discussion, I’m referring to the newly-redistricted 43rd. The old 43rd…
City, Politics, School District
Task List: Local Implications of the Gubernatorial Election
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are dozens of possibilities for what the recall election means for Wisconsin, but I’m curious about three local implications, that I’ll write about after looking at precinct-by-precinct gubernatorial results. (Quick admission: in January, I thought Gov. Walker would lose a close recall election. That prediction was considerably off – he won comfortably. The advantage…
City, Elections, Politics, Recall
The (Red) State, the (Blue) City
by JOHN ADAMS •
A few remarks on the recall elections: There are thousands of happy and thousands of disappointed Wisconsinites today. A third-party voter looks at elections differently, because in many cases he or she doesn’t have a partisan candidate in the race; one votes for or against the candidates of other parties. This places a certain distance…
Elections, Politics, Recall
The Fitzgerald-Compas Debate in the 13th Senate District
by JOHN ADAMS •
One typically expects that a longtime incumbent will easily manage a newcomer-challenger. Those conventional expectations were upset last week. Lori Compas matched Scott Fitzgerald in last Wednesday’s candidate debate between the incumbent majority leader and his recall challenger for the 13th Senate District. A libertarian on the ballot, Dr. Terry Virgil, was sadly not invited…