NBC Political Director Chuck Todd ridiculed election machine critics at a major conference of vote-counters last weekend — thereby underscoring how Washington works. Todd told the National Association of Secretaries of State that their critics must be paranoid to fear that anyone would deliberately alter results. Allegations against Karl Rove, below, are among the most […]

Congressional reform advocate Lawrence Lessig this week delivered a powerful lecture in the nation's capital showing that control of elections by the wealthy is vastly greater than commonly understood. Just 159 wealthy U.S. donors provided as much presidential funding as all small donors combined, according to 2008 statistics that Lessig cited as the most recent […]

President Obama delivered an eloquent, hard-hitting Inaugural address Jan. 21 to launch his second term. In a day filled with pageantry, Obama delivered one of his presidency's most liberal speeches, available here. The president put a number of progressive policies on his second-term to-do list. The agenda surprised opponents and supporters alike who had seen […]

The suicide of Justice Department defendant Aaron Swartz underscores the vast and often unfair power that prosecutors often wield in cases across the nation. Swartz, 26, a web innovator and social activist, was found dead by hanging at his Brooklyn apartment after federal prosecutors in Boston made clear they would require him to face 13 […]

President Obama this week nominated experienced close associates to fill three major cabinet posts. In a ceremony Jan. 7, the president introduced former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel as his choice for defense secretary. The president picked as CIA director John Brennan, currently the deputy national security advisor. Shown in the White House photo at left, […]

The federal imprisonment of Mississippi attorney Paul Minor, right, continues to pass almost unnoticed under the Obama administration. Minor, however, is a victim of one of the worst of the Bush-era political frame-ups, The president does not like to use up political capital by reexamining previous prosecutions and convictions — no matter how much misconduct […]

The federal imprisonment of Mississippi attorney Paul Minor, right, continues to pass almost unnoticed under the Obama administration. Minor, however, is a victim of one of the worst of the Bush-era political frame-ups, The president does not like to use up political capital by reexamining previous prosecutions and convictions — no matter how much misconduct […]

The Justice Department has demanded that a New Orleans newspaper hand over the names of a dozen readers who sought anonymity as they made comments about law enforcement. By the request, authorities continue to attack historic legal protections for the public. In this case, authorities seek to overturn the case law and Justice Department procedures […]