TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

REFORM: Washington 'Top Two' Primary will be "tested" Tuesday

• Major parties' unhappiness with blanket primary led to top 2 (Seattle Post Intelligencer)
• Washington plays Top 2 Primary roulette-Tuesday vote - Two candidates in each race, regardless of party, will move to November (The Oregonian)
• Voters will cast ballots in unloved 'top 2' primary (Seattle Post Intelligencer) "The biggest impact is going to be the continued ambiguity over the role of the party in determining who their candidate is," Democratic campaign consultant Christian Sinderman said.

CAMPAIGN

• Presidential Race a Tossup as Obama Lead Slips, Pew Poll Says (Bloomberg News) The candidates are in a dead heat among independent voters - - one-third of the electorate -- with 12 percent favoring Obama, 11 percent backing McCain and 10 percent undecided, according to the poll.
• Obama maintains slim lead in Pa. (Morning Call/Pennsylvania Ave. Blog) Obama has a 49 percent to 27 percent lead among self-described independent voters, but garners only 68 percent of the vote among registered Democrats.

LOCAL INDEPENDENT NEWS: Voters say 'sour grapes' fueling losing candidate's attack on open primary in Tennessee

• Davis Maintains Democrats Interfered With GOP Primary (Bristol Herald Courier)
• Davis Needs To Accept Loss (By Bristol Herald Courier Editorial Board) under Davis’ scenario, independents would have to align themselves with one of the two parties and vote accordingly. That’s not very democratic (little d).
• Two election losers challenge crossover voting (Knoxville News Sentinel)
• Davis claims 'Democratic activists' aided Roe's congressional campaign (Kingsport Times News)
• Davis could contest loss (Politico)
• Rep. Davis moves closer to contesting primary loss (The Hill) Davis’s campaign is fighting the notion that Tennessee actually has an open primary system, though voters are currently allowed to vote in whatever primary they would like.