With less than a week until the midterm election, Democrat Ro Khanna is closing the gap between him and incumbent U.S. Representative Mike Honda in the race for California’s 17th Congressional District -- a race only possible in the newly competitive environment that emerged from the implementation of California's nonpartisan, top-two primary.

As previously reported on IVN, In this district, which encompasses the tech-driven Silicon Valley, both Mike Honda and Ro Khanna are Democrats.

On November 4, Georgians will decide a number of statewide and local offices -- not the least of which include the state's next senator and governor.

The final debate in the U.S. Senate race in Kansas was almost two weeks ago, but incumbent Pat Roberts (R) is still having a tough time shaking off his balk at the last question given to the candidates.

Greg Orman (I) was up to answer first -- and the question (more of an instruction) was to "say something nice about your opponent."

When it comes to politics, 2014 may be remembered as the year of the improbable. In Kansas, a GOP stronghold, both the Republican governor and a very conservative senator are fighting for their political lives against a moderate Democrat and an independent, respectively.

North Carolina Libertarian Sean Haugh has attracted much attention in his race against Democratic incumbent U.S Senator Kay Hagan and Republican Thom Tillis.

According to a KSN News poll published on Tuesday, October 28, the U.S. Senate race in Kansas is in a statistical tie. Independent Greg Orman has a slight lead in the poll at 44 percent, but U.S. Senator Pat Roberts is only trailing by two percentage points -- inside the margin of error (+/- 4%).

Foreign Affairs Magazine wrote in an editorial for its September/October 2014 edition:

“For such a strong, rich, free, and favorably situated country, the United States is remarkably testy and out of sorts these days — and falling far short of its enormous potential.” - Foreign Affairs Magazine

That is exactly the conclusion I arrived at. The way I would word it is:

After 40 years of service in the U.S. House of Representatives, Henry Waxman (D) is stepping down. As the November election approaches, voters of California’s 33rd Congressional District must decide which candidate will replace the Democratic stalwart, Republican Elan Carr or Democrat Ted Lieu.

When IVN contributor Eric Robinson spoke with independent U.S. Senate candidate Larry Pressler (South Dakota) in May, Pressler lagged far behind in the polls. Trailing in a distant third behind the two major-party candidates, he was struggling to raise money.

Money and power go hand in hand in the current discussion over the state of politics in America. A 2014 study by the California Public Interest Research Group, CALPIRG, found a relatively small number of large donors made up over half of spending in California's 2014 nonpartisan, top-two open primary election.