Free Republic

A simplistic 18th century math formula, not the latest complex Big Tech algorithm, is the greatest growing threat to our democracy. This formula got scratched out using a quill pen in 1787. Then it was used in 1789 to elect George Washington as our first president. This enduring presidential algo is found in Article II, Section I, of the U.S. Constitution. The term “Electoral College” doesn’t appear there. But the basic math does. Each state has two senators. This equals two electoral votes, regardless of population. In addition, a state gets representatives in Congress based on population. Each representative equals...

Republican Virginia Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin garnered more support from Hispanic voters than Democrat Terry McCauliffe, a Fox News exit poll shows. According to the poll, 54 percent of Hispanic voters backed Youngkin and 45 percent cast their ballots for McCauliffe — a nine percentage point difference for Virginia’s fastest-growing ethnic group. In pre-election analysis from the Washington Post, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University Mark J. Rozell noted that Latino voters are an “emerging powerhouse in Virginia politics.” “It can make a critical, perhaps, the critical difference in this election,” Rozell correctly forecasted.

In a highly charged political environment, every news story is scrutinized for inaccuracies and signs of bias. Even an innocent mistake can appear to take on sinister dimensions. That’s what happened to POLITICO last night, when the news organization published an opinion column about Sarah Palin that included the textual equivalent of a cartoon thought-bubble. The authors of the piece, Paul Goldman and Mark J. Rozell, had crafted a paragraph to try to get at what Palin might be thinking. In their original version, they used quotation marks around what they imagined to be Palin’s thought – a common convention...

News site Politico.com admitted Friday that it made an "error" in attributing a nasty quote about Rep. Michele Bachmann to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The quote came in an opinion piece Thursday by former Virginia Democratic Party chief Paul Goldman and George Mason University professor Mark J. Rozell. The piece speculated on whether Bachmann's possible presidential run might compel Palin to get in the race, and argued that her recent bus tour sent a message to Bachmann, R-Minn. -- a message they attributed directly to Palin.