SUSAN STEIGERWALT A practicing physician in Detroit and past president of Physicians for a National Health Program, Steigerwalt said today: “The auto industry would be saving a huge amount of money and would not be in such dire straits if we had a single-payer healthcare system. The same is true for many industries and our…

“Finding the new driver of our economy is going to be critical. There’s no better driver that pervades all aspects of our economy than a new energy economy … That’s going to be my No. 1 priority when I get into office…” — Barack Obama, Time magazine, Oct. 22, 2008 PETER BARNES Co-author of Climate…

KEVIN DANAHER Danaher is the executive director of Global Exchange, which is co-sponsoring the Green Festival, happening at the Washington (D.C.) Convention Center this weekend. He co-edited the new book Green Festival Reader: Fresh Ideas from Agents of Change. He said today: “There’s far more growth in the green sector of the economy. As the…

CHRISTINE CEGELIS An IT professional in the Chicago area, Cegelis ran as the Democratic nominee for Congress against longtime incumbent Henry Hyde in 2004, winning an unexpected 44 percent of the vote. After Hyde announced he would be retiring, she attempted to run again in 2006, but Emanuel — then head of the Democratic Congressional…

MICHAEL RATNER President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Ratner said today: “It is historic. A black family in the White House that slaves built. Yes, slaves were used in the construction of the White House. … “Obama has been disappointing regarding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. These must be ended and the time…

ROB RICHIE Richie is executive director of FairVote and co-author of Every Vote Equal and Whose Votes Count. He said today: “2008 was an historic election in terms of the election of the first African-American to be president and the largest number of voters at the polls in our history. But we have a long…

TOVA WANG Wang is the vice president for research at Common Cause. WENDY WEISER Weiser is the deputy director at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. CHRIS KROMM Kromm is the executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies. ALEX KEYSSAR Keyssar is the Stirling Professor of History…

SCOTT NOVAKOWSKI Novakowski is a senior policy analyst with Demos and the author of the recent report “Provisional Ballots: Where to Watch in 2008.” He said today: “When implemented correctly, provisional ballots can enfranchise voters. However, when states adopt unnecessarily stringent standards for counting them and poll workers are not adequately trained in their administration,…

CHRIS STROHM A reporter for CongressDaily [subscription required] who has been writing about initiatives on the ballot in Tuesday’s election, Strohm said today: “There are initiatives on a wide variety of issues including Michigan Proposal 2, which would repeal a ban and allow government funding of stem-cell research, and Montana Initiative 555, which would give…

PENNY VENETIS Venetis is plantiff’s counsel in a four-year lawsuit spearheaded by the Constitutional Litigation Clinic at Rutgers School of Law. According to expert reports conducted as a part of the lawsuit, “approximately 10,000 voting machines used in 18 out of the 21 counties in New Jersey can be manipulated to throw an election.” The…