The Tampa Convention Center ballrooms have been converted into a series of stalls for the news outfits in attendance. Each is separated by makeshift walls of fabric through which you can make out tables, computers, food and phones. Walking through the labyrinth of media pens, I was struck by how many other nations have outposts at this convention. News organizations from Japan, Italy and Morocco are all here, covering an event many Americans regard as somewhere below “Toddlers & Tiaras” in the queue of shows to watch. Read More

Cody Morgan could barely vote when he was chosen by members of Maine’s Republican Party to be a member of the electoral college. At his age, I was just starting to study politics in college, but Morgan is getting an education that is as distinguished as it is depressing. You see, Morgan is a Ron Paul supporter, and he was chosen as an alternate to come to Tampa, Fla., and vote for Ron Paul for president. Read More

On Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention, we’ll all be treated to a tribute video. The Cecil B. Downhill Lifetime Achievement Award will go to U.S. Rep. Ron Paul. I’m hoping for slow-motion podium bashing and soft-focus moments of Paul telling Mitt Romney to read the Constitution. At 77 years old, Paul isn’t likely to run for office again, though he hasn’t ruled it out. An informal poll on his website asks, “What should Ron Paul do now?” Where more than 50 percent of respondents said “prepare for an independent run,” only 9 percent want him to support Romney. Read More

The Friday deadline for the state Legislature to pass a pension-reform measure is fast approaching, and the aptly named “special” committee on public pensions has allotted a whole two hearings on the matter next week. This can’t come a moment too soon for Stockton City Manager Bob Deis, who wrote to Gov. Jerry Brown last week pleading for statewide pension reform. Deis warned Brown that if a bankruptcy judge forces Stockton to ratchet down pension benefits, there will be an exodus from the city’s police department and the result will be “municipal chaos.” Read More

Proposition 34 on November’s ballot would end the use of the death penalty in California and convert the sentences for all 725 people on death row to life imprisonment without parole. In a well-intentioned bit of bribery to prevent public safety groups (read: unions) from opposing the proposition, it creates a $100 million fund from which law enforcement agencies can get grants to investigate homicide and rape. Read More

In the weeks leading up to the June election, a campaign ad in support of the ballot’s tobacco tax measure blasted a doctor who spoke against the tax, telling voters to “Get a Second Opinion.” And that’s just what one man is doing.  The $1 tobacco tax, Proposition 29,  failed by the narrowest of margins — 24,076 out of 5,161,506 votes cast. Now San Francisco doctor John Maa is demanding a statewide recount, the first in California history. Read More