TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

REFORM

• Obama's Liberal Shock Troops (Wall Street Journal) A redistricting commission would be set up to reshape political boundaries, but state courts would be barred from reviewing any plans it draws up. (Only federal courts could review the boundaries.) Voters would also be barred from rejecting or amending the commission's work by initiative.
• Confusion hides in constitutional amendment's fine print-Voters should beware; proposal has way too much 'other stuff' (Detroit Free Press)
• Wall Street Journal Op-Ed Attacks National Popular Vote Plan (Ballot Access News)
• Don't Mess With the Electoral College (Wall Street Journal)
• The push for a popular vote (Boston Globe)
• Current system needs an update (LETTER to Boston Globe)
• Same-day voter registration pushed-Revised bill backed by Augustus gets Galvin’s nod (Worcester Telegram & Gazette News)
• Naming rights (Boston Globe) Same Day Voter Registration - long-running battle between Asian activists and the state's top voting official on how to conduct an election.

CAMPAIGN

• The NEWSWEEK Poll: Is the Glow Fading? (Newsweek/Stumper blog) Is Barack Obama losing independents' support???
• North Dakota Poll Released by Rasmussen Reports: Barack Obama 43%, John McCain 43% (TransworldNews.com) McCain earns the vote from 87% of Republicans while Obama attracts 79% of Democrats and holds an eighteen point lead among unaffiliated voters.
• Wisconsin Poll Released by Rasmussen Reports: Barack Obama 50%, John McCain 39% (TransworldNews.com) In Wisconsin, Obama attracts support from 86% of Democrats and has a twelve point advantage among unaffiliated voters.

LOCAL INDEPENDENT NEWS

• OK: Slim pickings affect interest in primary election (The Journal Record) Another reason for fewer votes in primary elections is the increase in the number of registered independent voters. There are more than 200,000 of them who are not eligible to vote in primaries. Some states allow it as well as cross-party voting in primaries. Oklahoma does not.
• OR: Ben Westlund bucks “career politician” label (Politicker-OR)
• MN: Ventura is saving any news for TV (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
• MD: Md. city with edgy racial past elects black mayor (AP-Google) Newcomer ousts incumbent in nonpartisan race, Decades after the demise of segregation, this sleepy city on Maryland's Eastern Shore has elected not only its first black mayor but also its first woman to the post.
• MD: Cambridge makes history-Racial strife in the past, city picks first African-American mayor (Baltimore Sun)

THIRD PARTY NEWS

• Nader setting up write-in campaign in North Carolina (News Observer) Ballot access very difficult
• Green Party: Red ink in Chicago bash-Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) is leading contender for W.H. nomination (Baltimore Sun/The Swamp)
• RALPH NADER FILES AS CANDIDATE IN WASHINGTON (Seattle dbusinessnews.com)

BOOK REVIEW

Body Politic, Rest & Motion (Texas Observer) Review of The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart [The Hankster's 2 cents: it's not clustering that's tearing us apart, it's the two-party partisan system that's got us divided]