TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
America's Best Days: GOP Voters Grow Slightly More Optimistic About America’s Future (Rasmussen Reports) Democrats say America’s best days lie ahead by a 53% to 30% margin. Among unaffiliated voters, 48% say the nation’s best days are in the future while 35% say they are in the past. h/t to Jazz Shaw at The Moderate Voice

OPEN PRIMARIES
Old Issue, New Twist (NY Daily News/Daily Politics) The New York County Lawyers' Association's Election Law Committee will hold a public forum TODAY on the question of open primaries, and the line-up - from Independence Party attorney Harry Kresky and CUIP's Jackie Salit to Post City Hall Bureau Chief David Seifman (acting as the moderator - is sure to make for a lively discussion.

POLITOSOPHOCAL INVESTIGATIONS

• Obama is walking, cautiously but with purpose (Fosters Daily Democrat/Sanford) The United States is governed from the center — sometimes from the center-right, at other times from the center-left. Change born of dissatisfaction occurs when those in positions of power lose sight of the wide center and focus only on narrow interests.
• Obama Policymakers Turn to Campaign Tools - Network of Supporters Tapped on Health-Care Issues (Washington Post) "President-elect Obama believes that change really comes from the ground up, not from Washington," Salazar said in an interview. "The drumbeat for change is one which goes across every single state -- red, blue and purple. That kind of a drumbeat will be very effective in achieving the change needed on health care."
• Liberals to keep pressure on Obaman (Casa Grande Valley Newspapers) He promised to lead with a bipartisan spirit, the kind that could unify a country and allow him to get deals through Congress. From the moment he won, he implored people: "Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship."
• Change is … changing (Michael Reagan, Asheville Citizen Times) A funny thing happened on his way to the White House: that old, left-wing community organizer Barack Obama has suddenly veered toward the center, and his incoming administration is looking more and more like the Daley Machine in Chicago than Hugo Chavez’s administration down in Venezuela.
• Pragmatic leadership (The State) The candidate of change now demonstrates an understanding of the need for continuity where practical.
• How Will Obama Enrage The Left? (Chris Weigant, Huffington Post) By appearing to "stand up" to the left wing, Obama will be seen as charting his own course as a strong and independent leader, beholden to no special interest group of radical progressives. That's how the news media will portray it, at any rate. His approval ratings will likely rise after he does so, since it will serve to calm fears from suburban Republicans and Independents that Obama is going to make too many radical changes too fast.
• Op Ed: Point-of-Attack - Now Preparation For Policy-Change (Salem-News.com) Pragmatic is the right word for this new President. What he seeks is rapid but practical approaches to matters left far too long open to direct attack by the neocon-shiftless he replaces.