TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 8/12/09

Independent Voters

• NOTE: Without much fanfare, the WaPo introduced a new blog just about around a year ago. Funny, this is the first mention of "independent voters"...in an article about Sarah Palin's "downright evil" comment about President Obama's healthcare plan. Sarah Palin Calls for...Restraint? (Stephen Stromberg, Washington Post/Post Partisan)
• IMHO Marc Ambinder is one of the more anti-independent pundits around. However, he does write about independents, even if his understanding of independent voters is based on partisan conservatism. How Conservatives Are Blowing Their Chance (The Atlantic/Politics, Marc Ambinder)
• Is corruption a problem? (By WALLY EDGE, NJ Politicker) More than nine out of then (93%) of New Jerseyans say government corruption is a "somewhat serious" or "very serious" problem and 65% of voters say the recent wave of corruption arrests embarrasses them as New Jersey residents.
• N.J. Voters Say Corruption Major Issue, Poll Finds (By Stacie Servetah, Bloomberg) Voters say 50 percent to 15 percent, with 34 percent undecided, that they associate Democrats more than Republicans with political corruption in New Jersey. Independent voters blame Democrats 56 percent to 9 percent, while 28 percent of Democrats blame their own party, the poll found.
• Poll finds Corzine closing on Christie in governor's race (New Jersey News Room) In the two-way face-off, Corzine leads 83-10 percent among Democratic likely voters, compared to 76-19 percent in July. Christie leads 89-7 percent among Republicans and 64-29 percent among independent voters, both unchanged.
• Garden State Gubernatorial: Three reasons that Republican Chris Christie can win in New Jersey. (By Jennifer Marsico, National Review Online)
• Playing It Safe (By Charlie Cook, National Journal via Government Executive) The public's go-slower attitude is coming through not just in surveys but also in focus groups, such as one that Democratic pollster Peter Hart conducted in Towson, Md., recently for the Annenberg Public Policy Center. Columnist Mark Shields, who watched that focus group of a dozen independent voters from behind the glass, notes, "Even those who are rooting for Obama think that he is moving too fast. They feel the nation needs a time-out. They urge him to slow down." Shields quoted one participant as saying, "I hope he has learned that everything does not work at the speed of light," and another as advising that the president "needs to develop a bit of patience."

BLOOMBERG 09

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, registered as unaffiliated, is running as an independent for a third term on the Independence Party line in November. PS -- Mike twittered today! http://twitter.com/mikebloomberg

• Indys Defend Bloomberg As One Of Their Own (NY Daily News/Daily Politics/Liz Benjami)
• Working The Jewish Vote For Bloomberg ‘09 - Mark Botnick: Mayor’s liaison grew up in political family. (by Adam Dickter, The Jewish Week) At 24, Mark Botnick is in charge of outreach to the Jewish community for Mike Bloomberg’s third mayoral campaign. The Yonkers native, an alumnus of Westchester Day School and Westchester Hebrew High School, worked on Bloomberg’s last campaign while still at Queens College and afterward went to work at the city’s Community Assistance Unit until this year. A Democrat, he lives on the Upper West Side.
• Special Election: NY Democrats Go With Rookie (By Emily Cadei, CQ Politics)