Voting to Make it Worse - Thomas Frank

Former Corporate CEOs-Turned Politicians Spend Big In 2010 Races

JULIET WILLIAMS | 08/ 9/10 06:18 AM | 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In the midst of one of the worst recessions in decades, a host of former corporate leaders are spending millions in their quest for elective office, using their personal wealth to push past the political machinery and their own lack of experience.

In California, billionaire former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman has bankrolled more than $91 million of the nearly $100 million her Republican quest for governor has cost so far. Her outsized spending has bought her some of the nation's best-known GOP strategists and chartered planes offering "white glove service." It's also helped her target traditionally Democratic voters.

Ex-Justice Dept lawyer says whites' rights ignored

PHILADELPHIA — Witnesses described an ugly scene: Two members of the New Black Panther Party threatening white voters the day Barack Obama was elected president, flinging insults like "white devil" and "you're about to be ruled by the black man, cracker."

The fallout from the case has become even uglier. Most charges against the men were dropped for lack of evidence, the U.S. Justice Department says. Now a former Justice Department lawyer is accusing his ex-superiors of ignoring white voters' rights and creating a systematic "one-way" approach in which only minorities are protected.