Asymmetric Beaver Why are Americans reeling in dismay over the state of politics? Why is the American media locked into total disbelief every day? What has happened? A revolution. Donald Trump is President, the result of a campaign that was totally different from any other; and is governing in a
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CuriosityCat: UK June 8 Election and How Framing might destroy PM May
Remember Don’t think of an elephant? Does the name George Lakoff ring a bell? Does the concept of framing a debate in political discourse remind you of something? If your answer is Yes, step this way and consider the article I quote below. If your answer is No, then step
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Upset for PM May in UK June 8 election?
Prime Minister May might find her apple cart upturned next week when voters send in a hung Parliament, if a new opinion-polling method by YouGov actually works, as this article explains: Robert Barnes, the U.S. lawyer who made hundreds of thousands of dollars betting on Brexit and Donald Trump’s victory,
Continue readingCuriosityCat: The Biggest Wedge Issue in the 2015 Canadian election campaign
When Canadians reflect on the success of the Liberal Party in gaining power in the October 19 election, many will not know how important one issue was in gaining that victory. Nor will many Canadians know who was the mastermind behind that winning issue. Thanks to one of the masterful
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Harper’s ‘New’ Conservatives Slow-Motion Implosion
When even Conservative supporters in the media start musing with friends about the possibility of a collapse in the Harper Conservative Party vote on October 19, you know that the drip-drip-drip of wet deposits from chickens coming home to roost is attracting attention: Talking to a Liberal friend Wednesday evening,
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Donald Trump has the Stone’s to become President
Roger Stone So, does Trump have what it takes to become the president? This article thinks he does. The reference is to the guerrilla-warfare expert on American politics, named Roger Stone: Stone has worked in Republican politics for decades and helped Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan win elections. There’s
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: S’truth #nlpoli #cdnpoli
New Democratic party candidate Linda McQuaig caused a bit of a stir in the first week of the federal election campaign when she said that in order to meet the national carbon emission reduction targets, we’d likely have to leave most of the oil sands oil in the ground, undeveloped.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Lead by Example #nlpoli
Dwight Ball is the leader of the Liberal Party. He now has a chance to lead by example when it comes to donations for his leadership campaign. Ball told CBC News that he spent somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000 on his leadership campaign. Even though the party executive failed to
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Ground Game Counts #nlpoli
Two posts, quite a distance apart touch on the same basic political (science) issue: the role of the local, get-out-the-vote effort in any political campaign. In a post at the Monkey Cage on what to watch for over the next few months in the American presidential campaign, John Sides reminds
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Cost per Vote: the Rural/Urban Divide #nlpoli
In looking at by-elections in Newfoundland and Labrador, the second and third phases offer a neat cluster of by-elections in urban (metro St. John’s) and rural (everywhere else) districts. Break those out and you get some information that shows the relative strengths and weaknesses of the parties, depending on where
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Campaign Spending and Efficiency #nlpoli
Two of the three political parties in this province are spending more, on average, and getting less, on average in by-elections. That’s one of the things you can see in an assessment of a decades worth of by-elections from 2001 to 2011. Last we, SRBP gave you a teaser of
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: What if they gave an election and nobody came? #nlvotes #nlpoli
Next Tuesday, the face of the province’s House of Assembly likely won’t change very much at all. The new premier will take office following an election with what is on track to be a record low turn-out. That’s got nothing to do with public opin…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Do debates matter? Part Deux #nlvotes #nlpoli
Last week ended with a wonderful bit of insight into where televised political debates figure into an election campaign. Before you go any farther into this post just stop for a second and think of all the media chatter last week about the debate, wha…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: It’s unanimous: more of the same… #nlpoli #nlvotes
So now you’ve either seen the debate or read some of the media coverage about it. Here’s a question for you: what was the ballot question for you as posed by each of the leaders? While you’re thinking about that for a second, let’s just …
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Welcome to the Echo Chamber #nlpoli #nlvotes
Pretty simple idea, really. Opinions, beliefs and ideas move around among like minded people in what is an essentially closed space. The effect can be amazingly powerful just as it can be amazingly deceptive and distorting. President Barack O…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Changing the game
Politics, Don Jamieson once said, is no place for fools. But you don’t have to be a fool to expect that people act with basic human decency. Definitely not acting with such decency are the number of people over the course of Monday who spent very l…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Like Momma always said…Part Deux und Trois
The only funnier thing than a guy up on assault charges claiming he is a wannabe Tory candidate are opposition party politicos who campaign for the incumbents. In the past couple of weeks, comments coming from both parties have highlighted positive ec…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Republic of Moose
In an announcement that had absolutely no ties whatsoever to the current election campaign, the provincial government today tossed $5.0 million into a variety of efforts that are supposed to reduce the number moose-vehicle accidents in Newfoundland and…
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