The University of Virginia Center for Politics has partnered with Project Home Fire, a new initiative dedicated to finding common ground in American politics, on an innovative new data analytics and polling project to explore the social, political, and psychological divides between those who voted for Donald Trump and those […] Read more »
The Democrats’ Last Best Shot to Kill the Filibuster
From multiple directions, the crisis over the filibuster is peaking for Democrats. … Reform advocates don’t expect Democrats to resolve the latest standoff by exempting the debt ceiling from the filibuster—most bet that the party will eventually turn to the special budget-reconciliation process to pass the increase. But they do […] Read more »
Odd couple Sanders and Manchin are 630 centuries apart
There are lies — little lies, white lies, lies of compassion, lies of convenience — and then, in its own category of dissembling is what we call political spin. It can be effective or, taken to the extreme, divisive with negative consequences. That’s where Joe Biden and congressional Democratic leaders […] Read more »
McConnell’s strategy: Hurt the country to help the GOP
I’ve said it with regard to Supreme Court confirmations and voting rights legislation, but I have to say it again: “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has proved particularly adept at inventing constitutional principles and American history from whole cloth.” So it is again, with raising the debt ceiling. … […] Read more »
A Consequential Week, With Uncertain Consequences
By now, you’ve probably heard that this is the ‘most consequential’ week of President Biden’s young presidency. Democrats in Congress have to find a way to keep the government from shutting down, raise the debt ceiling to avoid default, and pass Biden’s legislative agenda. All combined, this presents “a tumultuous […] Read more »
The Roots of Democratic Disarray
… In shaping their sweeping social spending legislation, with a putative price tag of $3.5 trillion, President Joe Biden and the Democratic congressional leaders have argued that this is what the voters chose last November. And polls do show broad support for universal pre-K, lower prescription drug prices and expanded […] Read more »