TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

OREGON OPEN PRIMARIES

• Grass roots not evident in initiatives-Process has been taken over by big money and single-minded interests (The West Linn Tidings)
• Primary change is the only initiative to back-Measure 65 is worth support of voters (The Lake Oswego Review)

CAMPAIGN

• Vermonters cross river for Obama (Brattleboro Reformer) With McCain's popularity among independent voters in the battleground state, many Republicans on the border are looking to help swing New Hampshire back toward the GOP.
• Parties seeking out new registered voters (The Arizona Republic) independent voters showed the biggest gains with nearly 80,000 choosing not to affiliate with a political party.
• How desperate is McCain? Matt Welch says only a domestic act of terrorism could boost McCain out of second-place status. Kareem Crayton says McCain squandered several chances to close the door on Barack Obama.(LA Times)
• Once you’ve gone ugly, it’s tough to turn back (Andy Stone, The Aspen Times) John McCain and Sarah Palin are going flat-out crazy negative, without regard for either truth or consequences. They’re whipping some of their supporters into a frenzy of hatred, apparently in the hope that the frenzy will somehow spill over and convince those treasured, uncommitted “independent” voters.
• County independents: 'Not much new' (THE PRESS DEMOCRAT) Tuesday's debate between Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain didn't appear to sway Sonoma County's independent voters as much as it reinforced what they already believed.
• Schenectady: Democrats getting bulk of area's new registrations (Gazette Reporter) So far, among the new registered voters, 3,035 Democrats have registered, 1,135 Republicans have registered; 541 have registered as Independence Party members, 80 have signed up as Conservative Party members, 58 have registered as members of the Working Families Party and 1,683 registered without any party affiliation.

THIRD PARTIES

• Nader launches 22 field offices (Third Party Watch)
• Third Party debate offers new choices (Middle Tennessee State University/The Sidelines)
• MN-Sen: Trying to Handicap This Race (Swing State Project) Not many third-party challengers come out of the starting gates with 18-19%. Most Independence Party candidates in recent years are left-of-center and very well-spoken eggheads either on an ego trip or a journey of personal discovery through their candidacies.

NEW YORK POLITICS/INDEPENDENCE PARTY/Mayor Bloomberg and Term Limits

• New steam for Mike Bloomberg's 3rd-Term Express (DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU) Lauder, who last week agreed to a one-time extension tailored for Bloomberg, was back on the fence this week because the bill called for a permanent change.
• De Blasio Goes Billionaire Shopping (NY Daily News/Daily Politics) That means the city Indys - including Lenora Fulani, who had been thinking of a run for mayor herself - and not the state, will get the final word in '09. [this links to The Hankster]
• On his terms-New York Mayor Bloomberg's attempts to let city council change term limits an insult to voters.(Houston Chronicle)
• Bloomberg's plan to extend term limits is the apogee of arrogance (Harvard Law Record)
• End term limits and their arbitrary paternalism (Harvard Law Record)
• Voters must have final say on term limits (Oakland County MI Daily Tribune)