White House, Elizabeth Warren team up to roll back GOP state dominance [View all]

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White House, Elizabeth Warren team up to roll back GOP state dominance

By Kenneth P. Vogel - 3/5/15 5:50 AM EST


The Obama administration and top congressional liberals this week are formally embracing a new big-money effort to turn back the Republican tide in the states ahead of a pivotal series of elections that could determine which party controls redistricting and voting rules in many states.

A delegation of about 20 Democratic state legislators from around the country representing a group called the State Innovation Exchange is planning to huddle on Thursday and Friday with administration officials in the White House, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the Hill and with policy experts at the Center for American Progress.

The meetings are billed mostly as discussions of the group’s economic equality agenda, which seeks minimum wage hikes, equal pay measures, family leave benefits, collective bargaining protections and increased access to pre-kindergarten and higher education.

But more broadly, they seem to signal that national Democrats are finally gearing up to counter a well-financed network of conservative groups led by the American Legislative Exchange Council (or ALEC) that for years has dominated state policy battles...


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/white-house-elizabeth-warren-reach-out-to-state-governments-115782.html#ixzz3TXRftOlV