3/21/2016
Unit 4

Republican Bradley Byrne has been the representative for Alabama’s 1st congressional district since January 8, 2014.  Byrne was a chancellor of the Alabama Community College system from 2007-2009 in order to be able to run for the 2010 Republican nomination for the Governor of Alabama.  Before his election to represent Alabama’s 1st congressional district he served as a member of the Alabama State Senate in the early 2000’s.  Alabama is a very rural and agriculture heavy district which fits my identity of a republican, rural and agricultural atmosphere.  Some of Byrnes biggest contributors in the 2016 race were Drummond Co, American Crystal Sugar, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.  Byrne was first elected to congress in 2013 to finish Jo Bonner’s term.  He was then elected to serve out his first full term in 2014. Byrnes committee assignments include education and the workforce, armed services, and natural resources.  According to a Mobile Press-Register article Byrne was even thinking about running for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court back in 2011.  The ENCRYPT Act of 2016 involves security vulnerability mandates as well as different decryption requirements.  I couldn’t find Byrne exact vote on this bill but I believe that he would be for it considering his Republican background steers him away from bills that exasperate governmental involvement and this bill limits their power. Byrne also voted yea for bills involving cyber security which correlates with encryption.  He voted yea on the National Cyber security Protection Advancement Act of 2015 and the Protecting Cyber Networks Act.   This act prevents states from being able to ban digital encryption which is basically the encoding of digital messages for privacy reasons.  The Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Re authorization Act of 2016 was created in order to privatize air traffic control.  I think that Bradley would oppose this bill due to the governmental involvement and because he opposed the privatization of social security.  He may also oppose the bill due to his previous involvement with the subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces.  The third bill is the Sentencing Reform Act of 2015 which would reform criminal sentencing laws as well as cover a few other issues.  Similar to the other two laws I was unable to find his exact position but due to his party beliefs I feel that he would be impartial or undecided because it helps lower prisoners sentences in some ways but it lengthens them in others.  

Chris Kemp

3/1/16

The 2016 results we can already predict

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/2016-predictions-117554

This article begins by stating that the number of swing states appears to be steadily decreasing.  The article goes on to discuss the elections of the 60’s and 70’s and how important the Electoral College votes were.  Things have been pretty uniform in recent years as 40 of 50 states voted for the same candidate in the elections that took place after 2000.  The article then declares that Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia, Iowa, and New Hampshire are seven super-swingy states.  The article then covers the how the Electoral College vote intertwines with the Democratic and Republican Party.  For example the Republicans not only need to keep their current supporters but they must also garner an additional 65 electoral votes.  The article then discusses that if the Republicans lose Florida or Ohio they don’t really have a chance of winning the election and ensuring a Republican president.  If the win or loss is more than around a percent in the Old Dominion then the Democrats could be on a downhill slope and ruin their chances.  The article concludes by explaining that they will expand on their analysis in the Crystal Ball newsletter. 

This article ties into what we have been learning in class considering it covers the topic of the Electoral College vote.  We have been closely following the election and the popularity of all the different candidates during class, although the Electoral College vote doesn’t come into effect until much later.  We have covered the upcoming events such as SuperTeusday but we have most recently discussed the power and impact of the Electoral College.  In the current election Hillary Clinton appears to be leading the Democratic Party and is working to keep the support in the notorious blue states.  Clinton is pushing not only to keep support in the notorious blue states but she is also fighting to turn over some common red states.  During the fight for the popular and eventually electoral vote she will have a few safe-states that could put her over the edge.  This is a double edged sword as her closed competitor Trump also has his fair share of safe-states and a large group of notorious red states.  Although the election could go either way in terms of the popular vote it may be the Electoral College that has the final push for the new presidency.