TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independents sending a message (Letter to Sarasota Herald Tribune)
• Why polls in New Hampshire were so far off (Carla Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle) Mark Baldassare: "Independents will play an important role and will be a real challenge for the pollster."
• For Democratic presidential candidates, all states solidly in flux (By GROMER JEFFERS JR. / The Dallas Morning News) Clinton campaign confident that Democrats in South Carolina would have more sway than the independent voters who dominated the process in Iowa and New Hampshire.
• N.H. shows polls can often misfire (By Hillary Chabot, Berkshire Eagle Boston) Suffolk University was one of the rare polls that came close to the actual outcome, showing Obama ahead of Clinton, but within the four-point margin of error.... The final reason involved a bit of luck. Independent voters, who make up 45 percent of the state, saw that Obama had a secure win and decided to vote on the Republican ballot instead, Paleologos said.
• Polls Missed Late Voter Shift, Key Absence-Women Turned to Clinton After Moment in Diner; The Young Stayed Home (By JUNE KRONHOLZ, Wall Street Journal) Pollsters also overestimated the turnout of young voters, who overwhelmingly favored Mr. Obama in exit polls but didn't surge to vote as they had in Iowa. Although Mr. Obama won the biggest share of independent voters and "walk-ups" (those registering to vote that day), neither was enough to offset the tide of women shifting to Mrs. Clinton.
• Independent Voter Numbers Rise Because People Aren't Satisfied (Highlands Today, Tampa Bay FL)
• DNC Begins McCain Bracketing: "Pro-Bush Republican" with "Right Wing Baggage." (Marc Ambinder The Atlantic) "McCain’s reinvention as a right-wing partisan might convince the Republican base that they don’t have to worry about the Maverick McCain standing in the way of a radical right wing agenda. However, swing voters who are looking for the Maverick McCain might be puzzled when this version of John McCain shows up at their doorstep with his new baggage in tow."
• Independent Voters - More Thoughts (Primary Voices Boston Globe)
• I love the sound of a ballot being cast; it rings true. (by Donna Richards, Primary Voices Boston Globe)

• Clinton vs. Obama: Must the gentleman step aside for the lady? (Betty Bayé, Courier Journal Louisville KY)