Massachusetts: Jim Fleishman got it right....

From Wayne Woodlief at the Boston Herald: Question 2 in Massachusetts has been quietly gaining ground. It is an election reform that would create an opportunity for independents to increase power. Jim Fleishman, chief organizer of Ballot Freedom Campaign is leading a phenominal grassroots effort!

Get involved!

And cudos to Jim and the coalition!!!

Texas: Does arrogance count?

From the Houston Chronicle: Governor Rick Perry doesn't want to debate....

And from KVUE report on Dem Chris Bell "the TransTexas Corridor is a bad campaign strategy..." Hmmmmmm.... wonder who taught him that? Anybody want to weigh in?

New York: Independent voters take heart!

Major article by Michael Muller in the Gotham Gazette on independent voters in New York City and election reform issues. Great article - cudos to the Gotham Gazette!!!!

Hankster for you!

Over the past couple of weeks I have added several blogs to the Hankster sidebar: Indy Texans Blog (the blog of Independent Texans and home to the fight against the TransTexas Corridor and for the election of Carole Keeton Strayhorn independent for governor), PurpleOregon (for those not satisfied with the Red and Blue!), and IndependentMind (a forum for independents). Please check them out when you get a chance!

Texas: Will students register for Kinky?

From the Pioneer Press we learn that the former Gov of Minnesota has Ventura-ed South to try to pull students into the Texas race. Minnesota has same-day voter registration. In Texas, new voters have until Oct. 10 to register for the November elections.....

Massachusetts: Mihos turns up the independent heat

Stories from the Lowell Sun and CBS4 from the debate last night: Lt. Gov. Healey doesn't want to go up against Christy Mihos (or Grace Ross) in future debates. She thinks the election belongs to either her or the other major party candidate Deval Patrick... And why not? Too much heat in the kitchen.....

Pennsylvania: Blocking Third Party Candidates

The Philadelphia Inquirer ran an editorial today saying that the ballot access restrictions for independent candidates are "insane". We couldn't agree more!

Texas: New York Times-style

From a New York Times article over the weekend by Ralph Blumenthal Clear-Cut Race Shifting Into Texas-Size Free-for-All : "....Just a few months ago, the race appeared to be a fairly conventional if well-financed match between Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, and the state comptroller, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a former Republican running as an independent.
In the last few weeks, though, two other candidates have gained enough traction to make it a much wider race: the humorist Kinky Friedman and Chris Bell, a former Democratic congressman. A fifth candidate, James Werner, a Libertarian, could make the difference if the Nov. 7 election becomes a squeaker. ... "

Maybe it's my own Arkansas/Texas/Tennessee/Virginia upbringing, but I find this article extraordinary. Here you have a major political figure in Texas running for gov as an independent and the Times seems to think THAT's "fairly conventional". It's only when you get a comic (who seems to, in a fairly traditional Southern liberal way, like to flaunt his racism) , a Dem and a Libertarian in the picture that it becomes "interesting."

I actually went onto the Times Archives to see how much had been written about Strayhorn compared with how much they've written about Kinky Friedman and here's what I found: 28 for Strayhorn, 94 for Kinky.

Let's call it Jello Journalism....

Oregon: Independent Caucus

PurpleOregon ("for those not satisfied with Red or Blue"!) found a little item on the Oregonian political blog telling us that Oregon Senators Ben Westlund and Avel Gordly (who both gave up their partisan registration this year) said they feel they represent some 460,000 Oregonians who are either registered independents or not affiliated with a party. They have formed an independent caucus called The Oregon Caucus. Good move!

New York: He ain't heavy, he's my downstate IP vote getter....

And while we're on the subject, there's an interesting article on the upstate/downstate divide by Joseph Spector in today's Rochester Democrat & Chronicle Upstate short in power spectrum, But impact of N.Y.C. dominance in top-level officials is debatable.

For those of you who aren't familiar with New York political jargon, upstate refers to the area of New York State outside of New York City, and upstaters refer to the City as "downstate".

About two-thirds of New York State's population resides in the five boroughs of New York City and the ratio of registered Dems in the City compared to registered Repubs is 5 to 1.

These numbers are important this year for the Independence Party whose weighted vote system involves a calculation of the votes on Column C in a statewide race. The weight has leaned "upstate" so far, coming from Rochester billionaire Tom Golisano's run for gov. The weight per vote will change in favor of the NYC operation if more votes come in from "downstate", which is likely given that Hillary and Spitzer head of the ticket.

New York: Power and Authority in the Independence Party

Of the very little media coverage of the New York City Independence Party county committee organizing over the past several months, there are two items here -- one in the Staten Island Advance from Tom Wrobleski called "2 continue fight for leadership of Independence Party: State group recognizes Morano as borough chair, while Lyons is selected as leader at local meeting" (Monday, September 25, 2006). I'm tempted to point out Morano's "sour grapes" syndrome, but that would imply that he had any grapes....


The other is from Rich Winger's Ballot Access News "State Leadership of NY Independence Party Tries to Undo Fulani Supporters Recent Gains from last Thursday, when successful
meetings were held in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens to constitute grassroots county committees which will provide the leadership to local political decisions.

Through the (Bi-Partisan) Looking Glass with David Broder

David Broder has a fanciful piece in today's Washington Post entitled "Independence Days" in which he says "What it really signals is a new movement in this country -- what you could rightly call the independence party." Is he talking about the huge increase in independent registrations among voters? Is he talking about the networks of independent voters that are getting built around the country? Is he talking about an electorate that is fed up, angry, disenfranchised, etc. etc. etc.?

No, he's talking about politicians in Washington scrambling to figure out how to oppose President Bush without opposing him..... My money's on independent voters, not Dem and Repub politicians, no matter how correct or decent they may be.

New York: Fulani forces elect County Committees

Fulani Supporters Win Control of New York City Independence Party September 17th, 2006 from Ballot Access News.....

GOTV

GOTV
A little tv set that you pull out on the subway so you don't miss the beginning of "House" on your way home from work?

A flat screen installed at the midway point in your Range Rover to keep the kids entertained on the trip to the dentist?

In an interesting article this week in the Washington Post, "In R.I., a Model for Voter Turnout: Employing Senate Primary Strategy May Give GOP an Edge", Jim VandeHei and Chris Cillizza show the importance of voter pull.

Do votes cost money? Are votes expensive?
Of course! From an October 2004 article by Alan B. Krueger on his Princeton website, (Krueger is the Bendheim Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University), we learn that:
"Two Yale political scientists, Donald P. Green and Alan S. Gerber, have studied turnout for years. Their findings, based on dozens of controlled experiments done as part of actual campaigns, are summarized in a slim and readable new book called ''Get Out the Vote!'' (Brookings Institution Press)..... Door-to-door canvassing, though expensive, yields the most votes. As a rule of thumb, one additional vote is cast from each 14 people contacted. That works out to somewhere between $7 and $19 a vote, depending on the pay of canvassers -- not much different from the cost of that three-pack of underwear....." The study goes on to cost out leafleting, mailings, phone calls (heavily scripted and more personalized), and negative campaigning to anti-pull votes.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Minnesota: Independence Party slate speaks out
Massachusetts: Patrick now faces independents in November election for gov
Lamont/Lieberman: Lieberman is a turncoat

Minnesota: Independence Party slate speaks out

Minnesota's third party, the Independence Party, is running a slate in November and they're getting into the debates and into the media:

* IP Senate candidate Robert Fitzgerald in AARP debate (WCCO)
* Letter supports Tammy Lee (Star Tribune)
* IP AG candidate John James opposes death penalty (Minn. Public Radio)
* IP Gov candidate Peter Hutchinson's energy/environment plan (Duluth News Tribune)
* IP Congressional candidate John Binkowski wants to eliminate income taxes, says universal health plan too expensive (KSTP, Minn Public Radio)

Massachusetts: Patrick now faces independents in November election for gov

Deval Patrick won the Dem nomination for gov and now faces Christy Mihos and Grace Ross in November.... Independents make up half the electorate in Massachusetts....

Lamont/Lieberman: Lieberman is a turncoat

From Capitol Hill Blue: Ned Lamont says Joe Lieberman is a turncoat.....

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Illinois: Ballot access restrictions for independents ruled unconstitutional
Minnesota: Who is Tammy Lee?
Help Stop Corruption in the Presidential Debates
Oregon: Exclusion of independent candidates from debates out-moded

Illinois: Ballot access restrictions for independents ruled unconstitutional

From the Chicago Tribune:
In a decision that could increase the number of candidates who seek state office, a federal appeals court in Chicago ruled Monday that state election law unconstitutionally restricts independent candidates and must be changed....

Minnesota: Who is Tammy Lee?

From the Star Tribune by Doug Grow:
Tammy Lee is the independent in the Congressional race starring Dem (and potentially the first Muslim Congressman) Ellison and Repub Fine....

Help Stop Corruption in the Presidential Debates

IndependentVoting.org has launched a new campaign to open up the debates to independent candidates. Sign up!

Oregon: Exclusion of independent candidates from debates out-moded

From Statesman Journal:
The exclusivity of the gubernatorial debates scheduled in September and October between the major party candidates, Republican contender Ron Saxton, and Democratic incumbent Ted Kulongoski, reminds me of what's happened to American car manufacturers...... [more]

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES FOR INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Massachusetts: Independents are a majority of the electorate
Pennsylvania: Voters must break two-party stranglehold on politics
National: 81% of Americans willing to vote for independent candidate for President

Massachusetts: Independents are a majority of the electorate

From Cape Cod online:
'Wild card' voters in play
By KAREN JEFFREY
With fewer than half the state's registered voters aligning themselves with the major political parties, the unenrolled voter could prove a wild card in tomorrow's primary elections - that's if they show up at the polls....

Pennsylvania: Voters must break two-party stranglehold on politics

From the Allentown Morning Call:
by Stephen C. Smith, a Bethlehem PA resident
I don't know about you, but lately I'm getting frustrated with our Democratic and Republican parties. With elections in November, I hear and read about how Democrats are formulating a plan on how to win back congressional seats. Republicans are changing strategies and positions they once held with our administration to retain their control. I've come to realize that this is all about them and not the people they represent. I've come to realize that these two parties are the great divider which prevents any real reform for the good of the people......

National: 81% of Americans willing to vote for independent candidate for President

THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE'S TIME HAS FINALLY COME
By FRANK LUNTZ
NY Post (reprinted in full)
September 14, 2006 -- WHEN almost half of Americans say they're "mad as hell" at politics and politicians, you have the makings of an electoral groundswell.

When 81 percent of Americans say they'd be willing to consider voting for an independent candidate for president, you have the makings of a political revolution.

Okay, the rhetoric may be a bit overheated, but the American electorate is hot, angry and now, for the first time, afraid. We were always sure the future would be better than the past, but no longer.

The national mood is not just anti-incumbent, and it is not just anti-Republican.

Thanks to a whole lot of federal failures - Katrina, illegal immigration, wasteful spending, perceptions of economic stagnation and political corruption - we have become anti-Washington.

A credible presidential independent will be someone who is not tied to the Washington political establishment but can point to a record of results. He (or she) will say "no" to the lobbyists and special interests but still have the financial means to run a serious national campaign. Such a candidate will attract considerable attention - and perhaps some serious votes.

There's only one person in America who fits the bill: New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

A little history is in order. Back in 1992, Ross Perot, my client, hit the pinnacle of independent candidacies when, for a very brief moment, he reached nearly 40 percent in the polls and an advantage over a sitting president and a popular challenger. Sure, it didn't last, but winning 19 percent of the vote was nothing to sneeze at.

So how does Bloomberg succeed where Perot failed? First, Bloomberg has actual governmental experience of the most challenging kind - running the New York City bureaucracy. Second, he has run and won twice as a Republican in a very Democratic city. He knows how difficult a national election can be, and he is unlikely to experience a political meltdown. And third, Bloomberg isn't cheap. In both elections, he spent freely and embraced the ugly underbelly of politics - media consultants, strategists and pollsters like me - needed to win.

Right now, Bloomberg would grab 17 percent of the vote in a hypothetical race against Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton. And he receives 21 percent of the vote in a contest against Sen. John McCain and Clinton. These are already big numbers for a man whom only 40 percent can identify as the current mayor of New York.

Make no mistake: We are still more likely to say the words "madam president" than we are to elect an independent. Rudy Giuliani is still the hero of 9/11 and a more viable presidential candidate. But for the first time in almost 100 years, an independent candidate - the right independent candidate - has the opportunity to be a genuine player on the political stage.

Dr. Frank Luntz is a national pollster and political commentator. He has worked for Rudy Giuliani, Ross Perot and Mike Bloomberg.

NOTE: Dr. Luntz apparently has missed a very big element in Mayor Bloomberg's two-time victory: he ran as an independent! With the backing of the New York City Independence Party, which supplied his margin of victory in 2001, and brought him 75,000 on Column C and 47% of the black vote in 2005, Mike Bloomberg is New York's independent mayor. There are close to a million independent voters in New York City. And we are organized to pull votes. - NH

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES FOR INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Connecticut: Lamont hammers away at Lieberman
Minnesota: IP Congressional candidate Tammy Lee steers clear...
Virginia: Green Party candidate for Congress Gail Parker is excluded from debate
National: Finding "swing voters"

Connecticut: Lamont hammers away at Lieberman

Ned Lamont continues anti-war campaign against Joe Lieberman.... From Washington Post

Minnesota: IP Congressional candidate Tammy Lee steers clear...

Minnesota Independence Party candidate for Congress Tammy Lee stays away from vicious campaigning by Repub Fine against Dem Ellison...

Virginia: Green Party candidate for Congress Gail Parker is excluded from debate

The Richmond Times Dispatch tells us that tomorrow on Meet the Press, Tim Russert will host Republican Sen. George Allen and Democratic challenger Jim Webb... The two will also be participating WITHOUT Green Party candidate Gail Parker in a League of Women Voters sponsored debate. Parker hasn't been included in polls and therfore doesn't meet the criteria for inclusion in the debates. Hmmmm.....

National: Finding "swing voters"

Political campaigns are using "corporate affinity" to look for voters.... Newsweek ran this article called "Shop at Target? You're a Swing Voter"....

And the Washington Post identifies a new category "mortgage moms" - swing voters in Kentucky who are concerned about the economy.....
"...Polls show that swing voters - the category that candidates most want to attract - are unhappier than the rest of the population about their economic circumstances. According to a recent survey by Bloomberg News and the Los Angeles Times, six in 10 self-described independents said the economy was doing badly, and seven in 10 said the country was on the wrong track. A Fox News poll, taken at the end of last month, showed that 23 percent of Americans consider the economy the most important factor they will weigh when voting - more than those who cited Iraq (14 percent) or terrorism (12 percent)...." [more]

Connecticut: Joe Lieberman is no independent - Jacqueline Salit

Political Director of the Committee for a Unified Party (CUIP) Jackie Salit, hit Joe Lieberman and his fake independent status on the blogs on Friday:

Possible Problem in Lieberman Application?
Connecticut Local Politics
This letter was sent to SOTS Susan Bysiewicz by an organization representing independent voters and candidates. It could be a problem for Lieberman, althought I doubt it.
"Dear Ms. Bysiewicz, I am writing in my capacity as Political Director of the Committee for a Unified Independent Party, Inc. We are a national organization which advocates for and represents the interests of independent voters, including many in Connecticut who are concerned about the independent candidate status your office is about to confer on Senator Joseph Lieberman....."

Friday, September 08, 2006
Lamont Blog
Independents to Joe: You're Not One Of Us
Jacqueline Salit, Director of the Committee for a Unified Independent Party whose Independence Party (NY) supported Mayor Bloomberg in 2005, today called on the Sec. of State to withold certification of Sen. Lieberman's ballot application on technical grounds, and criticized Sen. Lieberman's continuing self-identification as an Independent:
"There is mounting concern among independent voters in Connecticut that Mr. Lieberman's so called 'independent candidacy' is a fraud on the voting public," states Salit. "He is not an independent, but is rather a Democrat who availed himself of an escape hatch in state Election Law allowing to reinvent himself as an 'independent-in-name-only' candidate after he lost his own party's primary."...

Friday, September 08, 2006
Connecticut Blog
Joe Lieberman: from DINO to IINO?
Oh oh, I feel a Drudge light moment...Man, Joe can't find any love. I guess he better stick to campaigning in Waterbury.
It seems like the de facto Republican who claims to now be an independent just pissed off the Committee for a Unified Independent Party (CUIP) and who are pissed off and want him to stop using the term "Independent."Personally, I rahter use the word Ignore when I see the letter "I" next to his name.From the CUIP press release:
"An organization representing independent voters today registered an objection to the certification of Joseph Lieberman as an independent candidate for U.S. Senate. In a letter to the Secretary of State, Jacqueline Salit, the Political Director of CUIP, asserted that Senator Lieberman's application was deficient on its face and failed to comply with election law standards required this year of other groups. ..."

New York: Staten Island IP Vice Chair Anita Lerman makes a stand for grassroots democracy...

Staten Island Up Close
The Congressman vs. the Cable Host
New York Times
By JEFF VANDAM
Published: September 10, 2006
Over the last decade, when it came to choosing who would represent Staten Island and southwest Brooklyn in Congress, Anita Lerman has been the unchallenged standard-bearer of the Independence Party, a small but growing group with 6,703 members on the island.
But in the primary elections on Tuesday, Ms. Lerman will face a rival for her party’s mantle, an opponent who is better known to voters: Vito Fossella, the Republican who has held the House seat in the 13th District since 1997.
Mr. Fossella and Ms. Lerman, the 62-year-old former host of a public access television show called “Anita Lerman Presents News and Views for Staten Island,” are squaring off for a line on the ballot that in the general election typically attracts 1,000 to 2,000 votes, just 1 or 2 percent of the total.
But local officials of the Independence Party of New York — there are others in Florida, Michigan and elsewhere — say they are not surprised that Mr. Fossella is seeking their party’s nomination.
“There are going to be more and more primaries on the Independence line,” said Sarah Lyons, chairwoman of the party’s Staten Island chapter. “The party has grown, and it’s become recognized as a thing of great value. We’ve been working at the grass roots to build a voting base underneath it.”
Mr. Fossella, 41, who will run unopposed on the Republican line in November and in the past has won election by tens of thousands of votes, said he was seeking the Independence nomination because of his personal beliefs.
“I pride myself on being an independent fighter for people I represent,” Mr. Fossella said last week. “The core of the word ‘independence’ is to step up and do what’s right, regardless of the fact that sometimes it means going against your own party.”
Mr. Fossella cited the examples of his battles against the Bush administration to increase homeland security funds for New York and to preserve deductions for home mortgage interest and for state and local taxes on federal income taxes.
Ms. Lerman, who is the vice chairwoman of the local party, said her top issue was to make energy policy more environmentally friendly and to reduce consumers’ energy costs.
As for her chances in the primary, Ms. Lerman said she did not see her campaigns in terms of winning and losing. Rather, she said, her campaigns are about meeting the people of Staten Island as she goes door to door and talks to them about their views.
“People say, ‘When I was in the big party, nobody ever came to my door with a petition for a candidate,’ ” Ms. Lerman said. “Every person who feels more involved and is heard, and says, ‘Wait, this political process can have something to do with me’ — that’s a victory.”
JEFF VANDAM

NOTE: Anita, you're a winner in my book! And it's not often that your kind of WINNER makes it into the New York Times, so double congratulations! Keep up the great work! -NH

Independent voters - what will they do?

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press issued a report in July that captures the anti-incumbent sentiment that has grown over the past political season: Among other findings, they say that "Independents disapprove of the performance of both party's leaders by margins of more than two-to-one."


And from Jackie Salit and Fred Newman's Talk/Talk, Newman remarked last Sunday that "The issue is that independents are ambivalent as to whether they want to play hardball to get rid of the Democrats."

California's independent streak

By David Lesher and Mark Baldassare, in the LA Times

NOTE: This story was from February 2006, but bears repeating...

CALIFORNIA VOTERS are shedding their identification with the two major political parties so rapidly that if current trends continue, independent voters could outnumber Democrats and Republicans in the Golden State by 2025.

These new independents, who eschew ideological loyalty and rigid partisan labels, represent a significant challenge to the mainstream parties. Already, California's last few governors have needed to court independent voters to get elected, and in doing so, they fostered ideological tension within their parties; in the future, this struggle maybe become far more acute....[more]

Hankster Mini Poll Results

This poll ran from August 25 - September 8:
What does it mean to be an independent?
Independents are disgusted by partisanship and the corruption of the two major parties, vote for the person not the party, and are creating an agenda of reform. 100%

Independents are swing voters who stay out of the fray until the last minute and then determine the outcome of elections. 0%

Independents are centrists who don't like the extremes of the two parties. 0%

Independents don't count because there's no viable third party and an independent can't win. 0%

Stay tuned for the next poll....

Ranks of independent voters grow

By Marc Ambinder
September 7, 2006
San Diego Union Tribune
For the first time since presidential candidate Ross Perot won nearly 19 percent of the vote in 1992, technology, egos and politics are colluding to lower the barriers to entry for credible independent candidates for national office.
Signs abound that voters are moving beyond the two major parties and testing the free-agent market. And politicians are responding; the put-yourself-above-partisanship orientation is spreading, even during this midterm election season, when candidates typically seek to rouse the passions of their partisans..... [more]

Connecticut: Lieberman is a fake, no matter how you slice it...

The dialogue on Huffington Post about Lieberman's return to Washington is worth a glance--DC Senate Dems and Joe Lieberman :
So let me get this straight, Joe Lieberman ignores the will of Democratic primary voters, hires a Republican pollster, accepts campaign assistance from the former Bush Administration Iraq spokesman, refuses to help down-ballot Democrats in Connecticut and for this he is greeted by his Democratic colleagues as a hero??
What the hell is wrong with the Washington, DC Democratic Party?

Now, call me jaded, but somehow this just doesn't surprise me....

I particularly like this comment, however:
Joe Lieberman is NOT running as an Independent. He is running under the rubric of a fake party which he had to make up, "Connecticut for Lieberman". Why people continuously make this error is a mystery to me - it gives Joe legitimacy that he does not have....

Plan C -- The People's Morning-After-the-Elections Contraception

by Zbignew Zingh
www.dissidentvoice.org
September 7, 2006
A joint commission of the Food and Drug Administration and the League of Women's Voters has recommended the non-prescription sale and use of “Plan C,” the people's morning-after-the elections contraception.... [more]

Connecticut: Lamont to reach out to independent voters

According to this article in Mother Jones, Ned Lamont will begin reaching out to independent voters...

And read this comment by David Sirota in OpEdNews:
Fear & Loathing In the Senate Democratic Club
by David Sirota
http://www.opednews.com
Change does not come easy - it never does. And change never comes from Washington, D.C. - it is always forced on that city. But I must confess - for some reason (call me a naive idiot) I thought change among Democratic lawmakers in Congress would occur after Democratic primary voters spoke. Apparently, I was wrong....

New Hampshire: Should candidates be allowed to run on parties they don't belong to?

From the Concord Monitor (New Hampshire):
Today, the state's Ballot Law Commission takes up the fate of the eight candidates for the House of Representatives who filed to run as members of parties to which they did not belong. The candidates are hoping for a ruling allowing them to stay in the race....

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

National: Anti-incumbency is pro-democracy
Massachusetts: Christy Mihos - obstacle or opportunity?
Oregon: What's a Westlunder to do?
Connecticut: Into the dustbin of history?
Georgia: Will the Libertarian Party become a "real" party?
IndependentVoice.org - Jim Mangia on Week In Review

National: Anti-incumbency is pro-democracy

From Blogcritics:

Managing editor of WatchBlog and founder and president of Vote Out Incumbents Democracy, David R. Remer, puts forth his strategy for the upcoming elections:

"The anti-incumbent vote is the power our Constitution provides the people to control their elected representatives and process of government." Is this a power, you the voter, should exercise this November 7? Or, should you just succumb to the hoodwink cycle in full spin mode?

Massachusetts: Christy Mihos - obstacle or opportunity?

From the Berkshire Eagle:
"...Healey's only other obstacle could be Independent candidate Christy Mihos, who was chosen by 10 percent of voters in recent polls and could eat away at her undecided voter base..."

Oregon: What's a Westlunder to do?

Now that Ben Westlund is "gone", Portland attorney Greg Chaimov writing in The Oregonian has a novel idea for voting:

...Between now and November, I'm going to be watching to see which candidate proposes real solutions to the state's problems, and I will support the candidate whose solutions are thoughtful and honest -- even if I disagree with the solutions. ...

Connecticut: Into the dustbin of history?

From the LA Times :
Lieberman seems to have scared some of his colleagues away. He says his campaign is "about people, not politics"..... Oh really now?

And from the Washington Post:
Read "For Lieberman, the 'I' Stands for 'Ignored'" By Dana Milbank

Georgia: Will the Libertarian Party become a "real" party?

Bring on third-party relief
By Bob Barr
For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
09/06/06
Is the Libertarian Party undergoing a "...fundamental shift in the party's focus "from a debating society to a true political party interested in engaging in electoral politics." This perspective is seen also in the party's decision to devote resources to developing a working voter database and to conduct a series of marketing surveys to better direct its message..."

IndependentVoice.org - Jim Mangia on Week In Review

Jim Mangia, lead spokesperson for IndependentVoice.org, appears on Week in Review to talk about how Independent Voters, now 23% of registered voters in California, are putting forward their reform agenda and challenging the major Gubernatorial candidates to accept it. Maniga discusses the growth of Independent Voters, what they're organizing around, and what response IndependentVoice.org has gotten from the candidates.

New York: Morano - the "other" Frank (that's a lot of sausage...)

From Staten Island Advance:

...[Frank] Morano, a Woodrow resident, is also expected to mount a bid to replace Sarah Lyons as chair of the borough Independence Party later this year. He failed in a bid to become party chair two years ago, and is also at the forefront of court efforts to have Ms. Lyons and others allied with controversial Indy leader Dr. Lenora Fulani disenrolled from the party....

NOTE: The fight within the Independence Party in New York is in full gear. You may have noticed that The Hankster has been a little sparse lately. Actually, news for independents has been a little sparse lately. Let's face it, when the going gets tough, independents don't get covered... The primary in New York is on September 12. -NH

National: Are we becoming an independent nation?

From Washington Post:
...Consistently, about 30 percent of U.S. voters tell pollsters they don't belong to a party....

National: Rumsfeld seeks to demonize and conquer

From The Moderate Voice:
...The attempt to demonize Americans who differ as basically fellow travelers of terrorists and modern day enablers of fascism came from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld....

Texas: Perry will try to beat Strayhorn

Carole Keeton Strayhorn pulled more votes in 2002 than Rick Perry....

Arizona: Party politicians face steep challenge from the independent base

There are 2.6 million registered independents in Arizona...

Massachusetts: Healthy citizenry requires healthy political system

Independent gov candidates Christy Mihos and Grace Ross speak out on health plan for Massachusetts uninsured.....