TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

CAMPAIGN

• Neither Obama nor McCain meets Energy Party standard (The State/Brad Warthens blog) John McCain and Barack Obama are lucky there’s such a thing as Republicans and Democrats in this country, because neither would be able to get the Energy Party nomination.
• Obama to set up shop in South Carolina-In unusual move, staff hopes to swing the state to Democrats (The State) The key, Fowler said, will be registering African-American voters, who vote Democratic about 90 percent of the time, and chipping off more white and independent voters.
• N.C. campaigns have seen little McCain cash (News Observer - NC) When the Libertarians lost party status, those voters became unaffiliated, though they should be able to reregister now that it is a party again.

REFORM

• Watering down the will of the voters (Denver Post) Perhaps the most egregious is Rule 7.E.6, permitting the IEC to dismiss a complaint when the same complaint is "pending before another body with concurrent jurisdiction."
• Mazzaglia: America's magic (MetroWest Daily News - Framingham MA) It was also Jefferson who would later initiate the formation of political parties which have become the focus of governmental power.
• Giving More Power To The People (By Susan Kniep, The Day) It is to the advantage of both conservatives and liberals to lobby for the passage of this referendum question. Upon its passage, Connecticut residents should then work for the right of Statewide Initiative and Referendum (I&R).
• Appeals court to revisit domestic partnership law-Some say petition signatures were unfairly discarded (Statesman Journal) The fund's lawyers have relied heavily on a 2003 decision by the 9th Circuit, which struck down Idaho's requirement for initiative signatures to come from 6 percent of voters in each of at least half the state's 44 counties.
• Defining Marriage Is At Heart Of Ballot Question (LETTERS Hartford Courant)
• Under charter, citizens take 'initiative'- It could lead to more referendums on local ballot (Sunday News Lancaster Online)
• HOME RULE 101: Article VI: Initiative and referendumSunday News (Lancaster Online)
• THIS ARTICLE RAN YESTERDAY: Op-Ed: 'Bipartisan' proposal faces criticism (BY JACK LESSENBERRY, Traverse City Record Eagle )
• Petitioners poised to submit ballot issue that chops Michigan lawmakers, judges and their pay (MichiganLive.com) If the Reform Michigan Government Now constitutional amendment does get on the ballot, voters would be asked to consider the most wholesale change in state government since term limits were approved for elected executive and legislative offices in 1992.
• Michigan Democrats express concern about government reform proposal (Gordon Trowbridge and Deb Price / Detroit News Washington Bureau)
• Socialists holding national event in Ann Arbor (The Ann Arbor News) "Ann Arbor has been a seminal location for larger radical movements in the United States, he said, referring to activity in the 1960s and '70s.