Entries for June 2006

MEXICO CITY—The weather in Mexico City is cloudy and chilly, with rain in the evening: not festive weather for an election.

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday on the Texas redistricting case; early accounts of the decision are here:

Richard Fernandez of the Belmont Club blog reminds us that New York Times Editor Bill Keller, who approved publication of NSA surveillance secrets last December and Swift bank secrets this month, does set some limits about what he will publish.

Republican Rep. Chris Cannon was apparently renominated in the Third Congressional District of Utah primary held yesterday.

Here are the final poll results in Mexico's July 2 presidential election. Under Mexican law, polls cannot be conducted after June 20, and results cannot be published after June 23. The results average out as follows: 36 percent for the PRD's Andrés Manuel López Obrador, 33 percent for the PAN's Felipe Calderón, and 27 percent for the PRI's Roberto Madrazo. The one poll that seems to be an outlier is the Milenio poll, which shows a lower number for Calderón and a higher one for Madrazo: without Milenio, the average is López Obrador 36, Calderon 34, and Madrazo 26. This looks like a very close election indeed; I'm headed to Mexico City on Thursday to see what I can find out.

The Supreme Court today ruled by a 6-to-3 margin that Vermont's stringent limits on campaign expenditures and contributions are unconstitutional infringements of the First Amendment.

The brilliant investor Warren Buffett has decided to leave the vast bulk of his fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.