A new bill has worked its way into the Maine legislature. Presented and co-sponsored by Republican and Democratic state lawmakers, it seeks to “require candidates to be listed as unenrolled if not registered with a recognized party.”

That’s right, it seems that for these legislators, “independent” is now too strong of a word for those who decide to run with no party affiliation.

The FEC released a press release Wednesday that it will not appeal a federal judge's decision against current rules governing the Commission on Presidential Debates in Level the Playing Field v. FEC:

On Monday night, House GOP leaders released a plan to replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act (colloquially known as Obamacare) after lingering speculation and -- at times -- secrecy.

Here are some of the things the new health care bill will reportedly do:

Third parties had their best showing in nearly two decades last November, but they still face major ballot access hurdles in future state elections across the country. Tennessee is a prime example.

Today’s WikiLeaks CIA data dump, ominously labelled “Year Zero,” is only the first part in a series of releases dubbed “Vault 7.” This is already the largest data dump of its kind, producing head-spinning revelations about the inner workings of the CIA, and how they have far surpassed the NSA in spying capabilities.

RULE XIX OF THE STANDING RULES OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE, PART VIII, PROVIDES FOR THE FOLLOWING:

“Former Presidents of the United States shall be entitled to address the Senate upon appropriate notice to the Presiding Officer who shall thereupon make the necessary arrangements.”

My guess is you did not know this. But I do, and have since it was adopted by the Senate. And I have been mystified as to why no former president has ever asked for the privilege to address the Senate, and in turn, the People of the United States.

It looked possible that Utah would become the second state to adopt ranked choice voting for statewide elections. However, HB349, the bill that got a surprising amount of bipartisan support in the House, died in a Senate committee because of a tie.

There is a new movement underway in New Jersey to elect independent-minded candidates to the state legislature that will support election reform to end partisan corruption in public elections.

"The electoral process is very corrupt," said Dana Wefer, a life-long Democrat running for New Jersey governor as a Republican. Wefer is also the founder of New Jersey Awakens, which has proposed 5 reforms to break the parties' control over elections:

As President Trump seeks to add $54 billion to the military budget, the partisan debate over military spending is renewed once again. The right has often criticized the Obama administration as "decimating the military," while others argue that we still have by far the biggest and most powerful military in the world.

Americans rely on the Internet now more than ever for news, information, and discussions about politics. According to Pew, nearly half of U.S adults between the ages of 18-49 rely primarily on the Internet and social media for their news, and 62 percent of all adults use a social network like Facebook or Reddit to get their news.