TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 11/11/09

ABOVE THE FOLD

• Independents are a Sleeping Giant (By Alex Hammer, The Moderate Voice) Twenty-six per cent of Mayor Bloomberg’s re-election votes in New York City this past week — well over 140,000 votes — came on the Independence line and not on the Republican line. Think about that for a minute, and why the national media keep it “hush hush". [Alex Hammer is an independent candidate for Gov of Maine]

PHOTO: NYC Independence Party members Ramon Pena, Vito Serra and Yvonne Lee at the City-Wide meeting at Grand Hyatt in Manhattan the Sunday before Election Day.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Going To A Party (By Raynard Jackson, Afro.com - Balt-Wash) Political parties now face the same fate.  They, by their very existence, tend to be static and bureaucratic.  If you believe like I believe, then you can join my party.  But, what these parties are missing is the fact that people now want choices and these choices are constantly changing.
• The end of independents (By Carl Golden, NJ.com)  NOTE: Carl Golden is a Republican strategist who worked as Gov. Kaine's press secretary (hence the wishful thinking of the title....)
• Republicans Narrowly Lead Democrats in 2010 Vote (Holly Bailey, Newsweek/The Gaggle) The reason for the slight GOP edge: Republicans now have a 22 point lead over Democrats among so-called independent voters.
• Republicans Edge Ahead of Democrats in 2010 Vote - Registered voters prefer Republicans for the House, 48% to 44% (by Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup) Independents are increasingly coming to prefer the Republican candidate for Congress, and now favor the GOP by 22 points.
• Republicans pass Democrats: Swing '09-A 21-point shift in sentiment among independents underlies the swing. (by Mark Silva, Chicago Tribune/The Swamp)
• Pelosi plays whack-a-mole on health care (By Gloria Borger, CNN Senior Political Analyst) Indeed, while the two political parties continue to shrink (with the GOP almost at oblivion, at nearly an all-time low of 24 percent), the independents may be the only healthy political entity in the nation.
• Indie voters nix O's Rx (By GEOFF EARLE, NY Post)
• The most important number in politics today (Chris Cillizza, Washington Post/The Fix) 44: That's the percentage of independent voters who told Gallup they would advise their Member of Congress to vote against a health care bill while just 22 percent said their elected official should support it...
• Now, GOP Has The Numbers-Democrats Have Some Crunching To Do After Republicans Turn Their 2008 Deficits Into 2009 Gains (by Amy Walter, National Journal Online) Democrats need to do more than just turn out those Obama "surge" voters of 2008. They need to do as well as he did among those more traditional groups like independents and whites, too.

THIRD PARTIES

• Oral Argument Set in Reform Party Battle over National Party Officers (Ballot Access News)

GOVERNORS RACES

• AP exit poll: NJ voters not thrilled with choices (AP, Daily Record)
• Democrats, incumbents get wake-up call (By John F. Harris and Jonathan Martin, Politico, Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

BLOOMBERG 09

• Big Jewish Turnout For Bloomberg (by Adam Dickter, The Jewish Week) Three-quarters of Jewish voters supported Mayor Michael Bloomberg in his narrow third-term victory in last week’s election, according to a New York Times exit poll. If accurate, that would be a sharp increase from the 53 percent of the Jewish vote the independent mayor garnered in 2005, when he was a Republican running against Democrat Fernando Ferrer.
• Christine Quinn Stands Pat (By Azi Paybarah, NY Observer) “She can’t just continue to stay in the mayor’s shadow,” said Kathy Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City. Speaking about the bill, which her group opposes, Ms. Wylde said the question is whether Ms. Quinn “can now steer a course independent of Bloomberg.”

LOCAL RACES

• Tulsa Election Results (Tulsa Today) Independent Mark Perkins picked up 18 percent of the vote.
• EDITORIAL: Olanta residents, leaders need unity for town’s success (South Carolina Now) In small towns with nonpartisan elections, we have to take a different approach. We all have to live closely together and see each other on a daily basis, so it’s important to remain civil.
• Canvassing completed at Lenoir County Board of Elections - Murphy's margin of victory over Harper: 52 votes (Bryan C. Hanks, ENC Today)