startribune.com by Pat Doyle

Al Franken and Sen. Norm Coleman each got good news and bad news Thursday, as one of the wildest elections in Minnesota history took yet another pair of startling turns.

The Minnesota Supreme Court said improperly rejected absentee ballots must be counted by the state Canvassing Board, something Coleman tried to prevent. But they won't be counted immediately, and Coleman and Franken must agree on which ones are tallied.  read more »

AU News by Curtis Gans

WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 17, 2008)—A major surge in African-American voting, polling data showing 90 percent of citizens seeing the nation on the wrong track, fear of a deep recession with personal implications, and the organizing efforts of college-educated youth, all conspired to produce both a 2008 Obama victory and the highest general election voter turnout since 1960.

For complete report, click here.

Cincinnati Enquirer by Jon Craig

COLUMBUS – Setting up a possible showdown with Gov. Ted Strickland, the Ohio House passed a bill Tuesday that eliminates the “golden week”– a period when voters could register and vote by absentee ballot on the same day.

Proponents of Senate Bill 380, sponsored by Sen. Bill Seitz, a Republican from Green Township, said the overlapping registration period could lead to voter fraud. Opponents said there’s been just a handful of illegal votes in recent years, and that the change will discourage new voters trying to avoid long lines on Election Day.  read more »

New York Times by Stephanie Strom

When Jeanne Levy-Church created the JEHT Foundation in 2002 to promote justice, equality, human dignity and tolerance, she tapped into investments run by Bernard L. Madoff.

Those investments were initially made more than three decades ago by her father, Norman Levy, who entrusted his real estate fortune to Mr. Madoff. Financed solely by regular contributions from Ms. Levy-Church, the foundation gave away more than $75 million over the next few years.  read more »

The Wall Street Journal

The telecommunications industry is bracing for a new era of increased regulation.
New congressional leaders as well as policy makers in the Obama administration are expected to press for fresh limits on media consolidation and require phone and cable firms to open their networks to Internet competitors, lobbyists and industry officials say.  read more »

America Speaks - Demos - Everyday Democracy

What follows is a practical agenda for addressing the increasing loss of peoples’ trust in—and sense of connection to—our systems of politics and governance.

In July 2008, 49 advocates, scholars, and thinkers met in Washington, D.C. and came to agreement on the outlines of a broad agenda for democracy reform. In the weeks that followed, the participants broke into workgroups and developed the recommendations outlined in this document.  read more »

Democracy NowCalifornia’s state Supreme Court has agreed to decide the legality of Proposition 8, the ballot measure that repealed the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry in California. The passage of Prop 8 has sparked nationwide protests by gay rights activists. Multiple lawsuits have been filed over the past two weeks. The Los Angeles Times reports gay rights advocates argue that the measure was a constitutional revision, instead of a more limited amendment.  read more »

The Columbus Dispatch by Mark Niquette

Ohioans cast a record number of provisional votes in last week's election, sparking renewed debate about the ballots that Congress viewed as a "fail-safe" for voting but that critics contend are being overused to the detriment of voters.

Unofficial results show that more than 193,000 provisional ballots were issued for Ohio's Nov. 4 election, easily topping the 158,642 in the 2004 election despite fewer total votes being cast this year.  read more »

CQPolitics.com by Emily Cadei and Shawn Zeller

Obama’s Operation May Become the Model of Fundraising
By Emily Cadei and Shawn Zeller, CQ Staff

The one thing that can be counted on when it comes to political campaigns is they inevitably cost more with each election.

In 1992, for example, President George H.W. Bush and then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton spent a total of just over $200 million in their race for the presidency. Eight years later, when George W. Bush defeated then Vice President Al Gore, the costs topped out at more than $300 million.  read more »