Hailing from the Hoosier hills of Indiana, former congressman Joe Donnelly heads to the Senate with the intent of continuing his proud stance as a moderate. Indiana voters elected Donnelly by a 50 to 44 margin over opponent Republican Richard Mourdock in November. In an earlier, closely contested Republican primary, Mourdock had defeated the 36-year … Read more
After losing a state gubernatorial race in 2000, North Dakota senator Heidi Heitkamp (D) had better luck in 2012. Running for statewide office for the first time since that 2000 loss to now-senator John Hoeven (R), Heitkamp defeated Republican challenger Rick Berg in one of the narrowest Senate elections of the year. Heitkamp won by … Read more
Deb Fischer, Nebraska’s new female senator, is a Cornhusker through and through. Fischer was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1951 and went to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for her undergraduate education. She left with her husband Bruce Fischer in 1972 to work on his family’s ranch and returned in 1988 to finish up her degree … Read more
The sun rises over the Capitol in Washington, D.C. the morning of inauguration and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, as the massive crowd slowly trickles onto Capitol Hill and the National Mall. Despite the chilly weather, thousands of excited citizens begin gathering a couple of hours before sunrise to vie for prime spots from which to … Read more
Claims and Concerns The South China Sea has long been a flashpoint for regional rivalries and tensions. Subject to a range of competing territorial claims—including from Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan, the South China Sea is at the nexus of competing and converging interests. Through these contested waters flows over one-third of world … Read more
In June 2012, TrustLaw, a Thompson Reuters Foundation Service organization, released a poll ranking the G20 countries in terms of their overall environment towards women. Canada, not surprisingly, ranked first, while India ranked last, even behind Saudi Arabia. Why the world’s largest democracy has failed to create a safe and supportive environment for women remains … Read more
Governor Chris Christie is winning accolades in his home state of New Jersey, with a poll showing that two-thirds of this solid blue Democratic state want him to win in 2013. Christie, who knocked down the embattled Governor John Corzine four years ago, showed an above-politics response to Hurricane Sandy, working hard for the state and … Read more
If you plan to major in philosophy, the American government will stop at nothing to prevent you. “Become an engineer. Study science or math,” politicos of every rank and label say. “Don’t bother with the mushy humanities.” In almost all places, they’ll try to convince to put down Proust and pick up an engineering textbook; … Read more
Although President Obama’s description of his foreign policy as a “pivot” to Asia was intended to be neutral in tone, political discourse in the United States has largely focused on his vision’s military aspects. From the bolstering of U.S. positions in the South China Sea to the opening of new bases in Northern Australia, the … Read more
Last week, seven Tibetans set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule and political oppression. These self-immolations have increased in frequency immediately before and during the weeklong Communist Party’s 18th National Congress, during which party chairman and president Hu Jintao will cede his posts to his successor, Xi Jinping. A few statistics stand out when one … Read more