Politics

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NEW ORLEANS—Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu appears to have routed five major challengers in today’s mayoral primary, riding extraordinary biracial support to claim a rare first-round victory.  With 90 of the city’s 366 precincts counted, Landrieu had 64 percent of the vote, according to WWL-TV. His closest challenger, businessman Troy Henry, had 15 percent, according to the…

This weekend, voters in the New Orleans Democratic Party primary will begin the process of electing the city’s first new mayor since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. The race has been heated since the beginning—now 12 candidates are vying to replace the discredited C. Ray Nagin as head of the city government. It’s a crowded…

MINORITIES WARY OF CALIFORNIA REDISTRICTING For the first time, voting districts for California’s Legislature will not be drawn behind closed doors in the backrooms of the state Capitol. Instead, a first-in-the-nation citizen commission will do the job, and thousands of everyday Californians are jostling to serve on the panel, reports the Los Angeles Times. But…

It’s been a long time since I carefully counted the speakers and panelists at academic conferences on civil rights to determine how many scholars of color were included, but I’ll admit that when I looked at the lineup for SCOTUSblog’s month-long “Race and the Supreme Court” series in commemoration of Black History Month, the lack…

Though it has the movie Glory and an exquisite memorial on Boston Common, the Massachusetts 54th Regiment does not have Civil War history on its side. Glory, the 1989 movie starring Denzel Washington, and The Civil War, the Ken Burns series first aired on public television in 1990, portray the Massachusetts 54th as the Army’s…

As Vince “Double Down” Vaughn might have said to President Barack Obama: “You’re money, baby—and you don’t even know it.” No sooner did Obama joke to a Nashua, N.H., crowd Tuesday that “You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college,” than a bipartisan chorus of Nevada politicians…

IS OBAMA TOO BOURGIE FOR AMERICA?President Obama is from a solid middle-class background but tell that to disgruntled Americans. Two-thirds of Americans believe his economic policies have hurt the country or made no difference, and half think he does not understand their problems, according to the Washington Post.  Many Americans say the president is disconnected from…

The Defense Department has announced a plan to end discrimination against gay American service members. On the heels of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union pledge to repeal former President Bill Clinton’s policy of requiring gays to stay in the closet while on active duty, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, the…