While we’re waiting for tonight’s results here is some incredibly important and pretty depressing information. Now that voter ID laws have been passed in the majority of US states since 2008, we now have the first study looking at a large sample of validated voting data to see whether these laws actually reduce minority voter turnout. Logic and some historical studies have made this a pretty strong assumption. But this study basically proves it. And the “success” of these laws at reducing the level of African-American and Latino voting is bigger than I imagined.
One nugget …
In general elections, states with strict photo ID laws show a Latino turnout 10.3 points lower than in states without them. The law also affected turnout in primary elections, where Latino turnout decreased by 6.3 points and Black turnout by 1.6 points.
Here are the highlights from the study.
We are here for your live New Hampshire primary results. You can see the actual results over to the right of the page. We’re getting the first trickle of results in now. The early (and routinely unreliable) exit polls suggest a solid first place for Donald Trump and the remaining four candidates bunched between 10 and 15 percent. The same suggest a substantial double digit lead for Bernie Sanders, basically in line with the polls. Again, put very little stock in those numbers. But we’ll be getting real counts pretty soon. Full county by county results here.
Meanwhile, in a chilling incident earlier today, Marco Rubio’ New Hampshire Campaign Chairman attacked a protestor dressed as a robot. Here’s the video.
High Court doesn’t even wait for the case to go through the lower courts before calling a dramatic halt to President Obama’s Climate Change program.
Bizarre. Man who attacks anti-Rubio protestor dressed as a robot at Rubio event turns out to be Rubio’s New Hampshire campaign chairman.
Video after the jump …
So prominent GOP campaign surrogate and one-time rock star Ted Nugent just went on a wild anti-Semitic Facebook rant blaming Jews for gun control.
Prime members, get your questions in here!
I mentioned this McKay Coppins Buzzfeed piece in my previous post. But it’s worth revisiting, even as I add the caveat that no single reported piece can be treated as definitive. Having said that, it is hard to imagine anything beside child molester or pathological liar that could be a more devastating critique of a presidential contender, especially one that is widely held among those close to Marco Rubio.
The key line is: “Though generally seen as cool-headed and quick on his feet, Rubio is known to friends, allies, and advisers for a kind of incurable anxiousness — and an occasional propensity to panic in moments of crisis, both real and imagined.”
The makings of a president. From Buzzfeed’s McKay Coppins …
But to those who have known him longest, Rubio’s flustered performance Saturday night fit perfectly with an all-too-familiar strain of his personality, one that his handlers and image-makers have labored for years to keep out of public view. Though generally seen as cool-headed and quick on his feet, Rubio is known to friends, allies, and advisers for a kind of incurable anxiousness — and an occasional propensity to panic in moments of crisis, both real and imagined.
It’s hard to think of a better quality for a president than to lose your cool and panic at clutch moments.