Skip to main content

Judicial Campaigns: Money, Mudslinging and an Erosion of Public Trust

Thirty-nine states elect their judges in some fashion. What once were “sleepy little affairs,” judicial campaigns have become high-stakes races, drawing in big money and increasingly negative advertising campaigns. In 2006, an estimated $16 million was spent on advertising in supreme court races in 10 states, a record. If predictions hold true, contests in 2008

Americans overwhelmingly favor election of judges but disapprove of judicial campaign fund-raising, fearing it affects fairness

Nearly two-thirds, 65 percent, of Americans prefer electing their judges rather than having governors nominate them from a list prepared by a nonpartisan committee. Yet when judges run for office they usually have to raise money for their election campaigns. Seven in 10 Americans believe that the necessity to raise campaign funds will affect a

Mudslinging in Judicial Campaigns — First-Ever Conference Set for D.C.

The Annenberg Public Policy Center and FactCheck.org are sponsoring the first-ever conference on advertising in judicial elections on May 23 in Washington, D.C. Mudslinging in Judicial Campaigns: Beginning to Look a Lot Like Congress will bring together judges, campaign media consultants and close observers of the escalation in money spent on ads in state Supreme Court races. In 2006, spending

National Intelligence Director Delivers First Annual Leonore Annenberg Lecture at Penn

John D. Negroponte, Director of National Intelligence, delivered the inaugural Leonore Annenberg Lecture in Public Service and Global Understanding October 26 before an audience of nearly 200 people. The lecture was sponsored by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, University President Amy Gutmann, the Annenberg School for Communication’s Institute for Public Service and the

The Hyperlinked Society Conference draws large audience

More than 175 bloggers, web entrepreneurs, researchers, designers, marketers and scholars gathered Friday at the Annenberg School for Communication to explore “The Hyperlinked Society.” Panel and audience members discussed everything from mapping the web and its users to economics and global access.

2004: The Post-Election Debriefing

Not long after the 2004 presidential election, the Annenberg Public Policy Center gathered Democratic and Republic strategists for a debriefing and questions from scholars and the media. Day One (December 3) featured presentations by the two presidential campaigns. Matthew Dowd, Mark McKinnon, Alex Castellanos, Elizabeth Cheney, Tucker Eskew and Nicolle Devenish represented the Bush-Cheney campaign.

Discussion Transcripts: Media Coverage of Terrorism

Since 9/11, three major pieces of legislation have passed that regulate the manner in which the federal government will control “Homeland Security Information.” These laws require that state and local governments as well as certain private corporations and public utilities adopt new controls over information. There is a great deal of confusion among the media