Writer Hertzberg to speak

Published December 1st 2008 in The Providence Journal

Hendrick Hertzberg, a senior editor and writer at The New Yorker magazine, will be in Providence on Dec. 15 to speak about the 2008 presidential election.

Hertzberg, who served as President Jimmy Carter’s chief speechwriter and is a former executive editor of The New Republic, will address the members of FairVote Rhode Island, an election reform group on whose national board he sits.

The Providence event will be at 6 p.m. at the Hi Hat, 3 Davol Square. It is open to the public for a suggested $50 donation for adults and $15 for students and people under 25.

[Excerpted from the Political Scene column].
IRV Soars in Twin Cities, FairVote Corrects the Pundits on Meaning of Election Night '09
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers.  Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections;  the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.

And as pundits try to make hay out of the national implications of Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections, Rob Richie in the Huffington Post concludes that the gubernatorial elections have little bearing on federal elections.

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