TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

POST ELECTION ANALYSIS

• Precinct data reveals nuanced view of Shelby County’s voting patterns (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
• The dust settles-“The basic maxim of democracy should always be: turn the rascals out. When people are entrusted with power and make a botch of it, their options should be dropped.” — Arthur Schlesinger on the 1980 election (Buffalo News)
• Hope springs eternal for Obama presidency (Ventura County Star) Because millions of Americans ignored party affiliation as well as race, and voted with their wallets as well as their ballots, Obama is less beholden to party than most presidents have been. He could be the most independent president since Theodore Roosevelt, and like Roosevelt, unshackled from party politics, he could instigate reasonable political and economic reforms that benefit the nation, not just segments of it.
• Rural voters pull to the right (Tulsa World) Nowhere is the Democrat resurgence in metropolitan areas more visible than in precinct 103 in Tulsa County. The four-square mile precinct, bounded by 41st Street, 61st Street, Mingo and South 129th East Avenue, saw 51 percent of voters go for Bush in 2004. In 2008, 59 percent of voters in the precinct backed Obama.
• Where 'Bama is really No. 1 (Arkansas News Bureau) And we (Arkansas) don't have as large a black population as some of the Deep South states, like Alabama and Mississippi. In those states, an unprecedented turnout of higher concentrations of black voters was the only thing that drove Obama's percentage higher than Kerry's.
• Black Republicans Ponder Their Future (Afro American) Leading the way is former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele who has decided to run for chairman of the Republican National Committee which provides national leadership for the Republican Party. The committee is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is also responsible for organizing and running the Republican National Convention.

NEW YORK POLITICS

• Popularity wanes for embattled Bloomberg (Crain's New York) “The term-limits fight did significant damage to his image as someone who was above the normal political fray,”
• Bill Thompson's turning up heat on Mayor Bloomberg (Daily News) Thompson's backers also point to the thousands of newly registered - and newly energized - African-American voters who came out for Barack Obama and might vote for Thompson.