Media

COLUMBUS, OH – Voting rights, civil rights and labor organizations are joining forces to erect get-out-and-vote billboards in four Ohio and Wisconsin cities this week, pushing back against an anonymously-financed billboard campaign aimed at intimidating voters and depressing voter turnout.

Judging by all the complaints about the Dodd-Frank Act, you might think that Washington over reacted to the financial excesses of a few years ago and that the Feds can now ease up on Wall Street.

In fact, though, bad behavior among America's money men -- and yes, those doing wrong are typically men -- continues onward at a furious pace. Consider just the past month at the SEC:

Other outside dark money groups get the press, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gets results. That's because the Chamber, the biggest lobbying organization in the country, doesn't disclose its donors, among whom are the most powerful companies in the country. Those corporations use the Chamber's to anonymously funnell money into competitive races. In the beginning of October alone, they've spent almost $5 million dollars on political races. But that's not the source of their unmatched influence.

The Roberts Court's campaign finance jurisprudence has one over-arching theme: morphing the First Amendment into a tool for powerful and wealthy.

Lorraine C. Minnite, a Rutgers University political scientist and a senior fellow at Demos, a liberal think tank, looked for a turnout effect in a 2009 paper she co-authored with Columbia University political scientist Robert S. Erikson. They didn't turn up definitive evidence, concluding, "our data and tools are not up to the task of making a compelling statistical argument for an effect."

The National Retail Federation is bearing glad tidings for the upcoming holiday season: America’s stores are expecting solid growth in holiday sales and may hire more than half a million seasonal employees. Non-seasonal employment in the sector is also improving, as retailers, led by clothing and clothing accessories stores, added 9,400 new jobs in September.

Representative Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, sent his second letter today demanding True the Vote reveal their plan to deny eligible voters the right to vote. But True the Vote continues to mislead.

When being the mayor of New York City isn’t enough, it’s time to start playing with the big boys. In 2012, that means starting a Super PAC. Michael Bloomberg is taking his fabled centrism on the road.

Four years ago, voter turnout was 49 percent -- the highest since 1968. Still, it remains to be seen if voters will come out in droves as they did during the election. To make sure that no avoidable factors -- ranging from intimidation to a lack of a photo ID -- keeps people at home on Nov. 6, five organizations are hitting the ground to do what they can to encourage all groups to get out and cast their ballots.