Minnesota Network for Progressive Action: News Center

News Center

National Democratic Headlines

Dems want their candidate as Ind. elections chief (AP)
AP - While Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels held off Saturday on appointing a permanent replacement for the state elections chief convicted early that morning of voter fraud, Democrats said they planned to move quickly to wrest control of the ...

Senate Democrats ready backup plan on payroll tax bill (Reuters)
Reuters - Senate Democrats have begun preparing a backup plan to extend a tax cut for workers if a special congressional negotiating committee fails to reach quick agreement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Friday. ...

Michigan Democrats Unveil Legislative Package Aimed at Campaign Finance Reform (ContributorNetwork)
ContributorNetwork - Michigan House Democrats unveiled a package of bills aimed at campaign finance reform on Thursday. The bills specifically seek to address transparency and accountability in how political campaigns gather financing. ...

NC's Heath Shuler won't seek re-election to House (AP)
AP - North Carolina Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler won't seek re-election to the House, potentially making it harder for the Democrats' effort to win seats in the Republican-controlled House. ...

Democrats may get lengthy Republican primary race (AP)

The Nation.

Washington State Poised to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage
Connor Guy
If all goes as planned, Washington will become the seventh state to allow same-sex couples to wed.

Two Years After Haiti's Earthquake, Women Are Still Shattered by Sexual Exploitation
Michelle Chen
A crisis of gender-based violence is festering--and foreign aid efforts are still failing to protect women from harm.

What's Left Out of Black History Month Celebrations
Sean Thomas-Breitfeld
More than a quarter of African-Americans live in poverty. During Black History Month, we should speak truthfully about the economic legacy that drives this inequality.

Kicking Down the World's Door
Tom Engelhardt
How drones, special operations forces and the US Navy plan to end national sovereignty as we know it.

Why the Komen/Planned Parenthood Breakup-While It Lasted-Was Good for Feminism
Amy Schiller
The controversy provided a long-overdue spotlight on the difference between feminism as a brand and feminism as a political movement.

Comments of the Week: Unions, Komen and the Super Bowl
Sarah Arnold
Each week we post a run-down of the best of our reader comments with the hopes of highlighting some of your most valuable insights and encouraging more people to join the fray. Let us know what you think—in the comments!

Jonathan Blitzer: El País's Journey to the Mainstream
Francis Reynolds
How did a newspaper that once represented a progressive alternative to the status quo ultimately come to be firmly identified with the state itself?

The Democrats Who Unleashed Wall Street and Got Away With It
Robert Scheer
That Lawrence Summers and Bill Clinton, the president he served as treasury secretary, can still get away with disclaiming responsibility for our financial meltdown is an insult to reason.

Four Reasons to Watch the Super Bowl
Robert Lipsyte
Joe Hill, Joe Pa, Tebow and Wee Brains.

Questions for Montana Superintendent Denise Juneau
Sasha Abramsky
Montana's superintendent of public instruction, a groundbreaking Native American leader, is a strong believer in the power of public education to combat poverty.

Campaign for America's Future

Campaign for America's Future Applauds Schneiderman's Lawsuit of the Big Banks to Address Mortgage Abuses

Jobs Report Shows Progress, But Austerity Continues to Impede the Recovery

Republicans Wrongly Equate Pentagon Spending with American Security

President Obama Announces Banks Will Not Escape Investigation and Prosecution

What Americans Hope to Hear in the State of the Union: Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.

Campaign for America's Future Urges President: Stand Against a Sweetheart Deal With the Big Banks

No Sweetheart Deal For Big Banks

Jobs Report Shows Action Needed to Spur Hiring

Progressives Praise President's Appointment of Richard Cordray to Head the CFPB and Urge Recess Appointments to the NLRB

Progressives at the Campaign for America's Future:

The Democratic Strategist

Creamer: Good News on Jobs Makes for Bad Day for GOP
The following article by Democratic political strategist Robert Creamer, author of "Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win," is cross posted from HuffPo:

Last Friday the GOP had a really bad day. It didn't come in the form ...

Election Integrity Under Seige
In her new York Review of Books article, "Can We Have a Democratic Election?," Elizabeth Drew addresses what is arguably the major problem of the 2012 election, one which is usually overshadowed by horse race reportage:

Beneath the turbulent ...

Romney's Agenda Leaves No Room for 'Moving to the Center'
If you know anyone who is both reasonably sane and still entertaining the delusion that Romney will move "to the center" once elected, compel them somehow to read Theda Skocpols' WaPo op-ed "Mitt Romney, the stealth tea party ...

ALEC Puppet's Whoopsey-Daisy
Abby Rappaport's "In Case You Were Underestimating ALEC's Role" at The American Prospect provides a disturbing example of the far-reaching influence of the American Legislative Exchange Council on Republican state legislators, who eagerly do the bidding of big ...

Jobs-Elections Connection Coming Into Focus
Democrats have reason to be encouraged by this morning's report that that the economy added 243,000 jobs in January and the overall unemployment rate has dropped to 8.3 percent. Of course the Administration should vigorously exercise its bragging rights ...

Marshall: Obstacle Course--Obama and the 2012 Electoral Landscape
Editor's Note: As part of an ongoing effort to encourage broad discussion of 2012 election strategy, this item by Progressive Policy Institute President Will Marshall is crossposted from The Progressive Fix.

As the 2012 election gets underway, ...

Political Strategy Notes
Romney's gloatfest about his big Florida win has been gished by his latest gaffe. But the most interesting statistic of the election --- the 14 percent decline in GOP primary turnout from '08 -- does not bode well ...

TDS Strategy Memo: After the primaries Democrats will be on receiving end of a propaganda campaign of a scope and ferocity unparalleled in American history. Dems must anticipate this onslaught and begin now to plan how best to respond.
The Republican primary campaign has provided a foretaste of the bitter and divisive super-PAC driven media tactics that will be used against Obama in the fall. The fundamental and inescapable fact is that Democrats will be on the receiving ...