Dan Schnur Runs for California Secretary of State

Los Angeles Times: Senior Fellow Dan Schnur is running for California secretary of state, focusing his platform on anti-corruption laws for politicians, stricter campaign disclosures, and banning political fundraising while the legislature is in session…….

Monumental crowds drawn to witness election 2012 results at USC’s Ronald Tutor Campus Center

With far more than 500 guests throughout the evening, USC's community gathered around the election night coverage on Tuesday inside the Ronald Tutor Campus Center mirroring the anticipation felt across the nation. Students on hand to experience the event echoed the youth vote indicating that apathy amongst younger voters is often over estimated…….

WATCH: DNC, Charlotte, NC –Top journalists and digital campaign strategists discuss election 2.0 and Clint Eastwood’s speech going viral

Following our successful panel at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, the USC Center on Communication Leadership and Policy (CCLP) continued their convention programming this week at the Democratic National Convention. The event was held at the Bloomberg link in Charlotte, NC in partnership with Harvard IOP and Bloomberg LP…….

WE-NATO: Philip Seib and the Power of Soft Power

To improve NATO's digital connectivity NATO's Public Diplomacy Division hosted a workshop called "The Power of Soft Power- NATO's Public Diplomacy in the Digital World" on Tuesday (27 March) 2012. In this YouTube clip CCLP Faculty Fellow Philip Seib describes soft power as essential in international relations as an important alternative to relying heavily on hard power. In what he sees as the 'information century' Seib believes this is increasingly possible as the internet and social media empowers people by informing them, leading to increased participation in politics and greater democratization. Watch here. Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");……

Politics as Entertainment

The art of Politics as Entertainment has the power to politicize the masses. CCLP Senior Fellow Richard Reeves sheds light, in his latest blog, to the Commedia dell'arte that is the latest election curmudgeon known as the GOP. Read the full article here…….

Get out of Afghanistan

LOS ANGELES — For years, since I moved there to cover Watergate, I have wanted to write a column about how Washington really works — a checklist of sorts. But I never got around to it. The closest I ever got was quoting the late San Francisco humor writer Arthur Hoppe. Writing from 3,000 miles away, he said, if I remember correctly: Washington is 67 square miles, about as high as the Washington Monument, and surrounded on all sides by reality. Last week, Joe Scarborough, former Florida congressman, talking head on MSNBC, and now guest columnist for Politico.com, did a……

Here We Go Again: Reform in California

Forget the midnight ride of Paul Revere, Callista Gingrich's jewelry collection and Anthony Weiner's … well, you know. The most important political people right now are 14 Californians you don't know. They are the members of the Citizens Redistricting Commission of this great state. American elections are rarely decided by debates in New Hampshire or even hundreds of millions of dollars in television advertising. By and large, American elections are determined by who comes out to vote, the fine print of election laws and squiggly lines on state maps. Except for presidential elections, which can surprise you, more than 90……

Politicians are Different from You and Me

The current issue of The Week magazine certainly has the right headline: "Hey, Look at Me!" But the picture was not of Congressman Anthony Weiner and his little package. The picture below the headline showed Sarah Palin and her great big Harley-Davidson. She is fully clothed, wrapped in leather actually. "Hey, Look at Me" could be the motto of modern politics, particularly male politicians. The name of the game has always been seduction of individuals, of crowds. That is what politicians do. I've traveled with a lot of them long enough to know that unlike the characters in "Toy Story,"……