I just sat through a nail-biting, emotionally exhausting two hour TV movie.  The opening ten minutes were especially nerve-wracking.  The film begins with elderly Floridians squinting at their butterfly ballots, then stabbing at the , scary music playing, over and over, as they vote by accident for Pat Buchanan.  Think...

As progressives prepare for the political season, we might rue the "one that got away." There's a rare chance to reform voting laws to expand the electorate and strengthen democracy, not just next year but for the next decade. But election reform in 2008 must start in 2007 -- and...

The desultory fight over Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court didn't exactly create a "teachable moment" on the central role of courts in our lives. But there's a sharp and growing debate in the states over an issue just as profound for democracy: How do we pick judges? How...