The Grinch Who Steals Our Elections

Gautam Dutta, 01.06.2010

Between resignations and politicians' office-hopping, special elections cannot be avoided. Fortunately, there's a proven way to rescue hapless voters and taxpayers -- Instant Runoff Voting.

Banking Regulation Needs to Confront Real Risks Presented by Financial Derivatives

David Paul, 01.06.2010

President of the Fiscal Strategies Group

Our banking system is structurally flawed, and the changes instigated by the passage of the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 should be fundamentally reconsidered.

The Republican Who Might Bring Gay Marriage to Jersey

John R. Bohrer, 01.06.2010

Historian of 1960s American politics

Contrary to popular belief, New Jersey's same sex marriage equality legislation isn't dead yet. There are five Democratic Senators voting no. That means at least three Republicans are needed to pass.

McCain Gets It, Obama Doesn't

Robert Scheer, 01.06.2010

Veteran Journalist and Editor of Truthdig.com

The Obama-backed bank regulation bill, with some deceptive reformist window dressing, is a pro-Wall Street business-as-usual cop-out. How odd that it is now McCain standing up to the oversize banks.

2009 Was Not the Senate's Finest Year

Lincoln Mitchell, 01.06.2010

Harriman Institute, Columbia University

It was in the Senate this year where the goal of meaningful health care reform gave way to a bill that feels as if it was written by the insurance company lobbyists.

Let's Stop Pretending: Obama's Record Is Not Progressive

Rupert Russell, 01.04.2010

PhD Candidate at Harvard University

Soon every American will be forced to purchase private insurance at several times the cost (and rising) of their counter-parts in developed world.

Kicking the National Security Football

Danielle Celena Belton, 01.04.2010

Blogger/Online Campaign Manager for New Security Action

National security is serious business. It involves how our country protects and projects itself abroad. It's not meant to be about partisan game-playing.

Best and Worst, From Sarah Palin to The Sopranos

Taylor Marsh, 01.02.2010

Political analyst, commentator, with foreign policy focus

The year is over. The decade done. Here are the best and worst of 2009 and of the decade, the biggest winners and the biggest losers.

No More Mister White Guy

Kara Vallow, 01.01.2010

Producer for Fox Sunday primetime

Late last year, when Barack Obama trounced the McCain-Palin ticket, a phrase kept crossing my mind: "No More Mister White Guy." The signs and omen...

Rubbernecking's Top Ten Pop Culture Moments of 2009

Holly Cara Price, 12.31.2009

Agent Provocateur

Tom DeLay on Dancing With The Stars. This is one of those moments that's so grotesque you don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Palin's Popularity Dead Heat with Obama is No Fluke

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, 12.30.2009

Political Analyst and Social Issues Commentator

Polls now show that Sarah Palin is in a dead heat with President Obama in popularity. The even more miraculous thing is that she's sprinting up, whi...

Bipartisan Blight

Robert L. Borosage, 12.29.2009

Co-Director of the Campaign for America’s Future

Health care reform suffered the torments of partisan obstruction. Now gird yourself for financial reform and the perils of bipartisan blight.

Top Moments in Tech/Politics of the Decade (PHOTOS)

Jose Antonio Vargas, 12.29.2009

Technology and Innovations editor, Huffington Post

Irrevocably, politics changed in the past 10 years because of technology in general and the Internet in particular. So here, in no particular order, are the decade's top moments in tech and politics.

Ride the Populist Wave: Restore Glass-Steagall!

Chris Weigant, 12.29.2009

Author, Political Commentator, and Blogger (ChrisWeigant.com)

Populism is not so much a political stance (as "conservatism" is, for instance) as it is a political tactic. Meaning it can be used equally well by either side of our current American political divide.

GOP Plays Soft on Terrorism Card Again

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, 12.27.2009

Political Analyst and Social Issues Commentator

It didn't take long for anti-terrorism hawks from Joe Lieberman to GOP congresspersons to dump the lax security, terrorist watch breach, and faulty al Qaeda intelligence on President Obama.

My 2009 "McLaughlin Awards" [Part 1]

Chris Weigant, 12.26.2009

Author, Political Commentator, and Blogger (ChrisWeigant.com)

Welcome once again to our year-end wrap-up and awards ceremony. Honesty dictates that I immediately genuflect to The McLaughlin Group, from whom I have stolen all these award categories.

Top 10 Internet Moments of 2009

Timothy Karr, 12.23.2009

Campaign Director, Free Press and SaveTheInternet.com

More than a decade ago, President Clinton pledged that every person in America would soon be able to go online "to order up every movie ever produced or every symphony ever created in a minute's time."

Making His List, Checking It Twice

Bruce Kluger & David Slavin, 12.23.2009

Regular contributors to National Public Radio’s All Things Considered

Just when Barack Obama thought his toughest decisions were behind him--his Afghanistan strategy, tackling unemployment, what to say to Tiger Woods i...

McCain Senate Re-Election Race Already Getting Ugly

Dawn Teo, 12.22.2009

HuffPost Arizona Correspondent

Talk of a Hayworth-McCain primary began in mid November when a Rasmussen poll showed Hayworth to be in a statistical dead heat with McCain in a hypothetical race for senate.

The last refuge of a scoundrel: polls

Martin Nolan, 12.19.2009

The U.S. Senate clock neared 1 a. m. when the roll call ended on December 18. The vote was 63-33 to end debate on a large military appropriations bill...

Banks with Glass Walls

Cate Long, 12.17.2009

http://riski.us

We could use some banks with glass walls... Banks that don't operate like black boxes and put the entire economic system at risk with their risky trading ventures.