While McKinley's powerful funding gave him an overwhelming Electoral College victory in 1896 (60% of the vote), the popular vote and state count were much closer contests (51-46.7 and 23-22, respectively). Where the impressive campaign financing paid off was in the electorate-rich industrial states of the East and Midwest.

On April 14, 2014, IVN contributor Mac Vanandel presented a well-argued point about the free market of ideas and how it is inherently part of the free market of commerce. Some people have responded that the two cannot be conflated because they are different.

This month’s sharply split decision of McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission has once again renewed interest in the history of campaign finance reform in our republic.

The history of campaign finance in national politics in the United States can be divided into five distinct eras: the legacy of the Founding Fathers, cronyism, the rise of the corporations, the progressives, and post-Watergate.

As immigration reform stalls in the U.S. Congress with little hope of any movement in the 2014 election year, immigration reform advocates have shifted tactics to both state-level legislation and broad grassroots activism to stop the narrow goal of deportation.

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”—Thomas Jefferson

The world’s largest democracy has recently begun its 5-week election cycle. The sheer length and size of India's elections are astounding: six weeks and nine stages encompass an estimated 815 million eligible voters.

The Baby Boomers: we now find ourselves approaching the exit side of the revolving door. But, we didn't just enter the theater as passive viewers. Rather, we heartily participated in, and directly influenced the most spectacular of all shows -- life.

A generation of astonishing idealists who brought about the Civil Rights Movement, the feminist movement and anti-establishment in one of the country’s most influential cultural eras, we are the possessors of wisdom and the harbingers of hope.

The California primary elections are less than two months away, June 3, and a tight race in the state's 52nd Congressional District (San Diego) is expected between the Democratic incumbent, Scott Peters, and Republican Carl DeMaio.

Other candidates in the race include Kirk Jorgensen, a Republican, and Fred Simon, also a Republican.

"To help liberals understand (and be civil to) conservatives."

"To help conservatives understand (and be civil to) liberals."

"To help everyone understand libertarians, who are often ignored because they don't fit on the left-right spectrum."

Politico reports that Democratic incumbent Rep. Raul Ruiz (CD-36) raised $430,000 in the first quarter (Q1) of 2014 and has $1.5 million on hand. This gives him a major financial advantage over Assemblymember Brian Nestande (R-Palm Desert), who is Ruiz's biggest opponent going into the June primary.