November 5, 2014

Yesterday’s mid-term elections were a rout for Democrats in Washington as well as in state capitals across much of the United States. Republicans took control of the U.S. Senate with at least 52 seats and possibly 2 additional seats with elections in Louisiana and Alaska undecided. (The contest in Louisiana will not be settled until December, when Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu will face Republican Representative Bill Cassidy in a runoff election.) The shift in the Senate elevates Mitch McConnell (R., Kentucky) to majority leader and demotes Harry Reid (D., Nevada) to minority leader.

In the House of Representatives, Republicans enlarged their majority from 233 to 243 seats, the party’s greatest advantage in the House since the 1940′s. Democrats will control only 178 seats when the 114^th Congress convenes this January.

Mitch McConnell (R., Kentucky) is the new majority leader of the U.S. Senate. (U.S. Senate)

In state elections, Republicans gained control of 31 governorships, up from 29. In exit polls, nearly 6 out of 10 voters stated they were “dissatisfied” or “angry” at the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama as well as at leaders in Congress, both Republican and Democratic.

November 6, 2013

In state and local elections around the United States yesterday, a Republican was re-elected governor of New Jersey and Democrats took the governor’s mansion in Virginia and city hall in New York City.

Moderate conservative Republican Chris Christie was re-elected governor of New Jersey in a landslide. He bested his Democratic challenger, State Senator Barbara Buono, collecting 60.5 percent of the vote, compared with her 38 percent. Christie’s handling of the Hurricane Sandy disaster in 2012 earned him widespread public support. Political analysts noted that the size of Christie’s victory places him at the forefront of possible Republican candidates for president in 2016.

New York City elected a Democrat, Bill de Blasio, as mayor for the first time in 20 years. He won with a resounding 73 percent of the vote, compared with 24 percent for his Republican rival, Joe Lhota. De Blasio, a liberal, promised to address what he referred to as “a tale of two cities,” the growing divide between rich and poor in New York.

In the Virginia governor’s race, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a key ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton, narrowly beat his Republican challenger, socially conservative Ken Cuccinelli, in this pivotal presidential swing state. McAuliffe took a smaller-than-expected 48 percent of the vote, compared with Cuccinelli’s 45.5 percent. Cuccinelli had the support of the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party.

The beleaguered city of Detroit elected its first white mayor, Mike Duggan, since the 1970′s. In the 2010 United States Census, Detroit had a population of 713,777 residents, down from a peak of 1,849,568, in 1950. The state of Michigan took over the city in March 2013, and it subsequently filed for bankruptcy, the only large American city to ever declare itself insolvent.

In an Alabama congressional primary runoff, moderate Republican Bradley Byrne topped his socially conservative opponent, Dean Young, 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent. Analysts characterized the race as a hard-fought victory for the business wing of the highly splintered GOP over the Tea Party wing.

Colorado voters rejected a sweeping school-financing reform measure. The state’s governor, John W. Hickenlooper, had strongly endorsed the measure, promising that it would deliver smaller class sizes, full-day kindergarten, and smarter education spending.

Additional World Book article:

• Tempest in a Tea Party (a special report)

November 13, 2012

Florida’s Secretary of State declared President Barack Obama the winner of the state’s 29 electoral votes on November 10. With nearly 100 percent of the vote counted, Obama took 50 percent of the total, compared with Mitt Romney’s 49.1 percent. The president now has 332 Electoral College votes to Republican Romney’s 206.

The Electoral College is a constitutionally mandated institution consisting of delegates appointed by the states. Delegates cast votes for president and vice president according to who wins the popular vote in their state. A minimum of 270 electoral votes were needed to win the 2012 presidential election. President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden took the Electoral College votes of 26 states and the District of Columbia, a total of 332 electoral votes, giving Obama the presidency. Romney and his running mate, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, received 206 electoral votes.

The Electoral College is a process, not a place. The Founding Fathers established it in the Constitution as a compromise between the election of the president by a vote in Congress and the election of the president by a popular vote of qualified citizens. The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. The electors are usually people who are dedicated members of a political party. A state’s entitled allotment of electors equals the number of members in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two for a state’s two senators. Under the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution, the District of Columbia is allocated three electors and treated like a state for purposes of the Electoral College.

Most states have a “winner-take-all” system that awards all electors to the presidential candidate with the greatest popular vote in that state. However, Maine and Nebraska each have a variation of “proportional representation”; that is, the candidate who gets 60 percent of the popular vote is given 60 percent of the Electoral College vote.

Some people regard the Electoral College as a roadblock to real democracy, robbing the popular vote of its importance. Others contend it ensures fairness and keeps states’ power intact.

Although the election of a president who did not win the popular vote is unusual in U.S. history, it is not unique. In 2000, George W. Bush lost the popular vote by about 540,000 votes to former Vice President Al Gore. Bush, however, was declared the winner with 271 electoral votes to Gore’s 266, after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that resulted in Florida’s then-25 electoral votes being awarded to Bush.

Additional World Book articles:

• Election of 2000
• United States, President of the
• War for the White House: A Legacy of the U.S. Constitution (a special report)

November 8, 2012

Barack Obama was reelected president of the United States on November 6, winning at least 303 Electoral College votes, compared with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s 206 votes. In defeating Romney, the president carried the swing states of Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin. He also took Michigan and Minnesota, where Republican super PAC’s (political action committees) spent millions trying to influence voters. Romney won North Carolina and Indiana, which the president carried four years ago. The president holds a narrow advantage in Florida, where the counting of ballots continues.  Obama is the first president to win reelection with unemployment above 7.2 percent since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936.

Barack Obama won reelection with at least 303 votes in the Electoral College. (The White House)

Republicans remain firmly in control of the House of Representatives. Democrats retained their majority in the U.S. Senate, taking over highly contested Republican seats in Indiana and Massachusetts while holding on to most of those they already had, including in Virginia and Missouri.

Six of the newly elected senators are women, raising the total in the chamber to 20, the most ever. One new member, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, will become the Senate’s first openly gay member. Voters in both Maryland and Maine approved referenda allowing same-sex couples to marry–the first time same-sex marriage has been approved by a popular vote in the United States.  Minnesotans rejected a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in that state. In Washington state and Colorado, citizens voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana.

Additional World Book articles:

• Joe Biden
• Election campaign
• Electoral College
• Paul Ryan
• Election 1936 (a Back in Time article)
• 2008 Elections: A Pivotal Choice (a special report)
• Tempest in a Tea Party (a special report)

October 5, 2012

The rate of unemployment in the United States fell to 7.8 percent in September, down from 8.1 percent in August, the U.S. Department of Labor announced today. The September unemployment rate was the lowest since January 2009, before the full effects of the Great Recession were fully felt through the whole economy. The U.S. economy added 114,000 jobs in September, beating all expectations. According to Labor Department data, the construction industry added 5,000 jobs, the government sector added 10,000 jobs, and the health care sector added 44,000 jobs. Economists note that today’s figures as well as other indicators point to a steady, if slow, recovery from the economic crash that began in September 2008.

The seal of the United States Department of Labor. (World Book illustration)

Political experts pointed out that a 7.8-percent unemployment rate takes President Barack Obama back to the same jobless rate he inherited when he took office in 2009, which they see as psychologically important in this election year. Conservative commentators reacted to the news with the suggestion that the figures were “cooked” by the Labor Department to make the president look good in the final weeks of the election campaign. The Secretary of the Department of Labor, Hilda Solis, responded that it is “ludicrous” to think the statistics could have been manipulated: “I’m insulted when I hear that because we have a very professional civil service.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Bank 2008 (a Back in Time article)
• Bank 2009 (a Back in Time article)
• Economics, U.S. 2008 (a Back in Time article)
• Economics, U.S. 2009  (a Back in Time article)
• Economic Crisis: The Banking Meltdown (a special report)
• Economic Crisis: The Government Jumps In (a special report)
• Economic Crises – Then and Now (a special report)

August 31, 2012

Mitt Romney officially became the 2012 Republican candidate for president of the United States on Thursday, August 30, ending his six-year quest for the nomination. Two days earlier, Romney had polled 2,061 votes, more than the 1,144 needed for the nomination, during roll-call voting by delegates at the Republican National Convention. In his acceptance speech, Romney spoke of his childhood and family. He also contended that continuing high unemployment had led many Americans to give up on President Barack Obama and argued that “Now is the time to restore the promise of America.”

Mitt Romney (Abby Brack, Romney for President, Inc.)

Romney became his party’s presumptive nominee in April, when the last of a wide field of challengers dropped out of what had been a contentious Republican primary season. That month, Rick Santorum suspended his presidential campaign. By April, Newt Gingrich and Representative Ron Paul of Texas also had failed to pick up enough convention delegates to be considered serious contenders.

Romney, 65 years old, is a former governor of Massachusetts and a successful businessman. He founded Bain Capital, a private investment firm, in 1984. Romney gained national attention after serving as president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Before he took over, the 2002 Olympics had been plagued by scandal and financial problems. Romney had previously been a candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. president in 2008 but lost to Arizona Senator John McCain.

Additional articles in World Book:

• Election campaign
• Political party

Feb. 1, 2012

Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, won a resounding victory in the Florida Republican presidential primary on January 31 with 46 percent of the vote. Although former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich took only 29 percent of the vote, he declared that he has no intention of dropping out. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul trailed with 13 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

The campaign in Florida was characterized by a series of personal-attack television ads between the front-runners, which political experts suggest left both Romney and Gingrich bloodied. Romney spent at least $16 million on some 13,000 TV ads attacking the former speaker’s character and suitability. Gingrich ran around 200 ads attacking the way Romney made his multimillion-dollar fortune.

Mitt Romney won the Republican presidential primary in Florida. Abby Brack, Romney for President, Inc.

Jan. 23, 2012

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich won the Republican presidential primary in South Carolina on January 21. Just 10 days after he finished a distant third in New Hampshire, Gingrich took 40 percent of the vote in South Carolina. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who was widely seen as the frontrunner, came in a distant second with 28 percent. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and Texas Representative Ron Paul trailed with 17 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Political experts noted that Gingrich owed his victory to evangelical Christians and Tea party activists, and to people who refer to themselves as “very conservative”–groups long resistant to Mitt Romney, whom they do not consider a true conservative.

Just days before losing in South Carolina, Mitt Romney also lost “officially” in Iowa. On January 19, the Iowa state Republican Party chairman, Matt Strawn, announced that Santorum, not Romney, had won the Iowa caucuses. While the former Massachusetts governor had been declared the winner by 8 votes on January 3, the final count had Santorum ahead by 34 votes.

Republican Representative Newt Gingerich (left) and Senator Robert J. Dole celebrate their party's victory in the 1994 elections that gave Republicans control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1955. Gingrich became speaker of the House and Dole became Senate majority leader. AP/Wide World

Gingrich was a highly controversial speaker of the House. In 1997, the House reprimanded (to reprove severely or formally) Gingrich for unlawfully using tax-exempt foundation money to promote his agenda and for lying about it under oath to the House Ethics Committee. The reprimand was the first for a speaker in Congressional history, and he was fined $300,000. After Republicans lost House seats in the 1998 elections, dissatisfaction with Gingrich’s leadership grew. He resigned as speaker and from Congress in early 1999.

Additional World Book articles:

• Back in Time 1995 (Congress of the United States)
• Back in Time 1996 (Congress of the United States)
• Back in Time 1997 (Congress of the United States)
• Back in Time 1999 (Congress of the United States)

Jan. 4, 2012

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won yesterday’s Iowa Republican presidential caucuses by a hair. Taking 24.6 percent of the poll, he beat former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum by only eight votes. The outcome gives Santorum, a favorite among evangelical Christian voters, a chance to emerge as the alternative to Romney in the New Hampshire and South Carolina presidential primary elections later this month. Representative Ron Paul of Texas came in a close third with 21.4 percent of the vote; former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich received 13.3 percent; Governor Rick Perry of Texas took 10.3 percent; and Representative Michele Bachman of Minnesota, a favorite of the Tea Party movement, came in sixth with 5 percent.

Mitt Romney wins the Iowa caucuses. Abby Brack, Romney for President, Inc.

Saying that the people of Iowa “spoke with a very clear voice,” Michele Bachmann announced today that she was pulling out of the race. Late on January 3, Governor Perry announced  that he planned to return to Texas to “assess” his candidacy.

President Barack Obama ran unopposed in Iowa’s Democratic presidential caucus.

Additional World Book articles

• Congress of the United States
• President of the United States

Nov. 9, 2011

Voters in state elections on November 8 rejected a number of conservative-backed measures. In Ohio, voters passed a referendum, by a 62 percent to 38 percent margin, that overturns a law limiting labor unions’ collective bargaining powers. The law, passed by the Republican-controlled legislature earlier this year, banned strikes and curbed collective bargaining rights for 350,000 public employees, including teachers, firefighters, and police. Political experts interpret the referendum vote as a major a blow to Republicans in a state that is generally crucial to winning a presidential election.

In Mississippi, voters turned down an initiative that would have defined life as beginning at conception (the point at which an egg is fertilized). The measure would have effectively banned all abortions, even when a woman’s life is at stake, and some methods of birth control. The results surprised many political experts, who had predicted that the voters of one of the nation’s most conservative states would pass the initiative.

In a recall vote in Arizona, voters turned out of office State Senator Russell Pearce, a Republican power broker who was the chief architect of that state’s controversial anti-immigration law. The law allows police to demand to see proof of citizenship of detainees suspected of being an illegal alien. A hero of tea party activists, Pearce, who was the president of the State Senate, had introduced numerous bills to overturn federal laws.

In Maine, voters restored same-day voter registration at polling places. The Republican-controlled legislature had outlawed the practice earlier this year.

Additional World Book articles:

• Labor movement
• Labor union
• National Right to Life Committee