Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., the first black woman elected to Congress from Alabama, is the president of this year's small Democratic freshmen class. Those nine freshmen, dubbed the "noble nine" by supporters, elected the Harvard-educated lawyer as the leader of a small, but diverse class that includes four women, four African Americans and one openly gay member and one who identifies as Buddhist.
After winning her first House term with 73% of the vote in Alabama's 7th Congressional District, Sewell established herself as a reliably liberal vote. She supported the president's health care bill as well as ...
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 8/23/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP: Campaign Finance Text your donation: The Obama campaign is going to start accepting donations via text message. The FEC... View Article
Continue readingHeadlining the RNC Convention: Fundraisers, Lobbyists and Shadowy Nonprofits
Once upon a time, the national Democratic and Republican political conventions were all about writing political platforms and nominating a presidential ticket. Once upon a time, convention planners relied heavily on public financing.
Now, with the main business already settled before the first gavel goes down, conventions are all about partying and access, and the bulk of the show is underwritten by corporate and other private money.
Next week's Republican gathering in Tampa features more than 150 events of various kinds – policy talks to late night bashes to campaign fundraisers -- according to event schedules and other invitations we have ...
Profile: Rick Berg
| Party: Republican |
| State and District: North Dakota, 1 |
| Born: Aug. 16, 1959 Hettinger, N.D. |
| Campaign cash raised: $6,364,759 |
| Money from businesses that lobby: $1,384,525 |
| Money from leadership PACs: $374,726 |
| Money from in-state / out-of-state: $2,678,539 / $2,878,405 |
| At-risk in November? Yes |
| Outside group spending: $35,595.78 in opposition |
| Net worth in 2010: $12,146,147 to $54,979,033 |
| Net worth in 2011: $22,656,129 to $64,735,994 |
Berg's Capitol Words profile
How we compiled this information
Continue readingRich kids in the freshmen class
Nearly two-fifths of the lawmakers swept into the House two years ago on a tide of populist anger appear to millionaires or near-millionaires.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 8/22/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP: Campaign Finance Big Buckeyes: Ohio’s highly competitive Senate race is attracting incredible amounts of outside cash. Conservative groups will... View Article
Continue readingObama bad at fundraising? Numbers tell a different story
You heard it here first (and here more recently): President Barack Obama is all but beating the pants off of... View Article
Continue readingAd Hawk: Identify Political Ads As They Air
Ad Hawk is our new iPhone and Android app that empowers you to identify political ads as they air and immediately learn about the secretive groups spending money to influence your vote.
Continue readingRape by any other name
Updated 3:32 p.m.
The political firestorm that Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., ignited with his now-recanted claim that women rarely getting pregnant from “legitimate rape" has focused attention on an unusual fact about the crime: When speaking of it, politicians often use a qualifier.
A search of the Congressional Record using the Sunlight Foundation's Capitol Words tool shows no instances of other lawmakers using the phrase or advancing the odd biological theory that has led Republican leaders from Mitt Romney to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to urge Akin -- a member of the House Science Committee ...
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 8/21/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP: Government Democratic Disclosure Delays: Democratic Party officials will not release the names of donors to their national convention... View Article
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