Ohio's electorate is not reflective of the state's voting eligible population, according to a new report by Project Vote. "Ohio Votes: Civic Engagement in the Buckeye State," written by Benjamin Spears,  examines disparities in registration and voting rates by race/ethnicity, income and age.

Key findings from "Ohio Votes" include:

Project Vote released a report this week that shows persistent bias in the Kentucky electorate: those who were registered to vote and vote in the Bluegrass State were not representative of the state's overall eligible population in 2006. This report takes a state-level look at the same topic as a recently released Project Vote report by Doug Hess, Representational Bias in the 2006 Electorate.

Weekly Voting Rights News Update

By Erin Ferns

Young or college-age voters have been found to share similar characteristics with poor and minority voters: They vote Democratic and are underrepresented in the electorate. Their turnout rates are also "depressed by some simple but strong barriers." Such barriers - which are identical to those historically affecting poor and minority voters - include identification requirements; long lines at the polls; vote "challenges; and intimidation.

By Michael Slater

Project Vote released a report today, "Representational Bias in the 2006 Electorate," by Douglass Hess that finds a continuing problem with the U.S. electorate: those who are registered and vote are not representative of the overall U.S. population eligible to vote. The proportion of the U.S. population that registers to vote and that does vote is highly skewed towards Whites, the educated and the wealthy. Furthermore, young eligible Americans, particularly young minority males, and those who have recently moved, are disproportionately represented among those who do not participate in the U.S. electorate.

This, folks, is where the 50 State Strategy pays off for us. The Pew Research Center's stateline.org ran a story by Louis Jacobson of CongressNow today, on the thesis that even in Red states -- even ones where the Democrats did not gain a majority of one or both state chambers -- the Democratic tide has floated new Blue legislation.

The story looked at six previously Red states that became more Blue in 2006: Idaho, Texas, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming.

More after the break.

I'm a sucker for a lot of things: Personal journalism. Progressive politics. Behind-the-scenes reporting. Media criticism. Strong, intelligent women. In Connie Schultz's new book, "... and His Lovely Wife: A Memoir from the Woman Beside the Man", we're treated to all of these things, and more. In case you didn't know, Schultz is the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The "Man", in this case, is Congressman-turned-Senator Sherrod Brown. And the book is Schultz's very personal chronicle of Brown's race for U.S. Senate, a year-plus spent in the maelstrom of a campaign, and the efforts Schultz and Brown undertook to make their young, enthusiastic marriage work. He won, they survived, and their love - portrayed beautifully in the book - endures. The importance of this book will, too, making it a no-doubt-about-it addition to your must-read list.

I was watching the U.S. vs John Lennon last night, and there are moments with Johnson and Nixon (mostly) speaking about Vietnam, that sounded remarkably similar to the fate of Bush. To get out of Iraq, there are two initiatives that strike me as being on the mark, but are not under enough consideration.

The first is from an email I got the other day from the Bill Richardson campaign:

I know there's the Byrd-Clinton proposal on this, and that Ron Paul is advocating for this as well. I just don't see why they are waiting for the fall to move on this, when it could be done right now.

The second is from the LATimes today:

Why not?

That Boxer is on board with this is significant. This has both a good chance of passing and more importantly, of succeeding in Iraq.

For Anyone who wondered why California only gained one congressional seat in the 2006 election, and gained nothing else, the following article will give you the straight scoop:

    http://www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id =5664

Art Torres, the party chair, would clearly prefer to give back $4 million in UNSPENT money on election day, so that lame-duck house speaker Fabian Nunez can wine and dine lobbyists and consultants.   He sure doesn't want to give the money to assembly district candidates because that might disrupt the cozy spoils system the CDP has with Republicans (The CDP gave money to only 2 out of 32 challengers in Republican-held AD seats).  Bob Mulholland, the welfare queen of the Sacramento consultant aristocracy, encapsulates the CDP thinking best when he expresses this tender concern for Republican campaign budgets:

    "As soon as you send in 10 or 20 or 50 thousand dollars],
      the other side says `Incoming!' and they pour the money in."

Gosh, we sure don't want Republicans to WORK to win their seats, do we?   Better to let them win!