Latest Stories By Louis Jacobson

Mysterious black-clad thugs on flights to Washington to disrupt the president’s political convention — shh, say no more! That was the message President Donald Trump delivered when he offered an anecdote during an Aug. 31 interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingaham. Trump: “We had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend, […]

Remember Florida’s presidential election recount in 2000, with the hanging chads, the magnifying glasses, and the weeks of courtroom battles about how to count the votes? There could be post-election vote-counting chaos again in the 2020 election — maybe in Florida, maybe some other state, or even in several states at the same time. The […]

As the once-every-decade Census approaches its completion, some observers are worrying about a rough landing. It’s never an easy task to count hundreds of millions of Americans spread out through 3.7 million square miles. But the 2020 Census has faced a special set of challenges. First came a fierce legal battle over the Trump administration’s […]

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the people who benefited from Joe Biden’s political career “are his family members, not the American people.” Her speech at the Republican National Convention has roots in the January impeachment trial where she defended President Trump. Business dealings by Biden’s younger son, Hunter, have raised many ethical […]

The second night of the Republican convention was notable for breaking longstanding traditions, and possibly laws, against mixing politics and government. They included: • First Lady Melania Trump giving her convention address to an audience assembled in the Rose Garden of the White House. • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo giving a convention address, unlike […]

The national party conventions begin this week, the Democrats first, followed by the Republicans next week.  Ordinarily I’d be on an adrenaline rush.  My time covering 13 conventions has reflected both the nation’s changing politics and its changing technology. When I began, I was the intern charged with ferrying film canisters into and out of […]

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, voters in many states are preparing to vote by an unfamiliar method: by mail. Traditionally, most of the voting in most states is done in person, either before or on Election Day. But in recent months, health officials have encouraged voters to cast their ballots by mail so they can […]

Joe Biden picked U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris to run as vice president on the Democratic ticket against President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, announced his decision Aug. 11. “I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, […]

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 8 that addressed eviction policy. But it didn’t extend an expired federal eviction moratorium, and even if it had extended the moratorium, not every renter would be covered. Evictions have become an urgent matter during the coronavirus pandemic, because the pandemic has prompted a severe economic […]

Joe Biden hasn’t chosen a vice presidential nominee yet, but the preemptive attacks are already underway online and among conservative commentators. One of their targets is Susan Rice, a former senior official in President Barack Obama’s administration. Aides and allies of President Donald Trump have focused on two episodes in particular: Rice’s involvement in the […]

Former President Barack Obama made some news when he delivered a eulogy for John Lewis, the civil rights activist and congressman from Georgia who died on July 17 after battling cancer. In his eulogy, Obama said he was open to ending the filibuster, the longstanding rule in the U.S. Senate that allows a minority of […]

President Donald Trump floated the idea of delaying the Nov. 3 election, pointing to unsubstantiated concerns about mail-in voting. “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can […]