winter sunset

WomenMakeNews: Political Independence is the New Feminism

Read about some of the women of the independent movement at Women Make News...

Crash Course for the Obama Team on the Independent Movement

Read the latest Op-Ed from IndependentVoting.org/CUIP President Jacqueline Salit "And Now, A Word From The Independents." In the Op-Ed, Salit lays out a four-point crash course for the Obama team on what they need to know about the independent movement.

Salit issued the statement in preparation for last night's State of the Union address by President Obama. and CNN interviewed Salit this morning. CNN and MSNBC contacted independent leaders in CA, KY and PA. Check your local stations to see if and how the media covers independents.

To contact CUIP, email national@cuip.org

Dr. Omar Ali Guest on CNN Anderson Cooper 360 Friday Night: Independent Voters and the State of the Union

Dr. Omar H. Ali will be appearing on CNN Anderson Cooper 360 on Friday night at 10 pm, January 29th, to discuss independent voters and the State of the Union. He will be joined by Harvard University's David Gergen and Manhattan Institute senior fellow John Avlon. Dr. Ali is a professor of history at Towson University in Maryland and a national spokesperson of the independent movement. His book, In the Balance of Power: Independent Black Politics and Third Party Movements in the United States, has been described as a "landmark work" by The National Political Science Review.


The Hankster will live-blog this critical dialog. Please tune in and let me know your thoughts!

it's snowing!

State of the Union: Increasingly Independent

President Obama is in the midst of his first State of the Union speech, (transcript here) and in the meantime, independents continue to organize--and one of us gives the Prez some advice....   >>>   SOMEbody has put up an anti-open primaries website in California...   >>>   Shades of the Harold Washington Party in Chicago casts the tone in the Illinois Gov race...   >>>   And Mike Bloomberg's gifts to the NY Independence Party makes it into the Independent Political Report (now if they could bother to distinguish between the NYC and the NYS parties, we'd be gettin' somewhere....)

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• And Now, a Word from the Independents (Jacqueline Salit, Executive Editor of The Neo-Independent magazine, Huffington Post)
• For Obama, It's One Speech, Two Conflicting Messages (NPR/Watching Washington) For if independents feel let down by Obama's partisan tilt there are millions of liberals feeling betrayed by his apparent capitulation to centrism. For these listeners, many of them seething with resentment, there must be a countermessage of confrontation.
• Letter: Not so fast (LETTER Merced Sun Star)  What these letters fail to address is that the voters who elected Scott Brown to the Senate were not the Republican/teabaggers but independent voters.
• Independents' shifting allegiances set political pace (By Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle in Seattle Times)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Web Site Established to Oppose California “Top-Two Open Primary” (Ballot Access News)
• HERE IS THE WEBSITE NOTED ABOVE: How Would an "Open Primary" Affect You? NOTE: No organization or people have claimed this site... Hmmm....
• The "open primary" (Commentary by J.D. Mullane, phillyBurbs.com)
• California Blanket Primary Election Returns Rebut the Idea that Under “Top-Two”, Greens Would Place First or Second in Primary (Ballot Access News)

CHICAGO

• Quinn taking Hynes' surprising assault rather personally (BY MARK BROWN Sun-Times)

NEW YORK

• NYC mayor denies White House ambitions for 2012 (By SARA KUGLER, The Associated Press, Washington Post)
• Mayor Bloomberg gave $1,200,000 to New York Independence Party last fall (Independent Political Report)
• Everybody Likes to Say They're an Independent--But Are They? (CB Murray-CBMurray,  Election Dissection blog) 
• Conservative Leader: Lazio's Already The Nominee (BY ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Daily News/Daily Politics) 
• Mike: 'No plans' for prez run (NY Post)

NEWS ALERT: Media Gets Some Stuff Right About Independent Voters!

Massachusetts special election to fill Ted Kennedy's seat continues to reverberate (or is that ricochet?) in the media and independent voters remain center stage (the newly elected Senator is that guy who posed nude for Cosmo, right?...)     >>>     Howard Fineman gets it right with one of the most grounded descriptions of independents in print.     >>>     Also of note, Elizabeth Benjamin, who took Ben's place at the Daily News when Mr. Smith went to Washington with Politico, gets it right by making the first ever in print distinction between the grassroots NYC Independence Party Organizations and the Upstate-"We're proud to be the party of business"-MacKay crowd.     >>>     And then there's Thomas Friedman's critique of Obama's first year where Friedman laments the disappearance of the President's "amazing, young, Internet-enabled, grass-roots movement he mobilized to get elected". Mr. Friedman apparently misses the distinction between running for office and governing the country, but hey, 2 outa 3 ain't bad!     >>>     Oh, and be sure to follow the dialog about what exactly the Tea Party movement is and where it came from.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independent Minded--Barack Obama knows that he has to reconnect with independent voters when he gives his State of the Union address. (By Howard Fineman | Newsweek Web Exclusive) They are not "centrists" in the sense that they exist in some mathematical middle ground between "left" and "right." Nor are they necessarily angry "populists," eternally resenting and distrusting anyone with any power. They are outsiders who wish Washington were a better place.
• An Ear-Splitting Alarm (By Charlie Cook, National Journal)
• What the 'I'm Mad as Hell' Party Could Do (Robert Reich, Huffington Post)
• New poll finds voter anger drove results of Mass. election (By Dan balz and Jon Cohen, Washington Post)
• Blog poll results: Third party wanted (Wicked Local Georgetown MA )
• Political button collection highlights obscure candidates (By Jimmy Smothers, Gadsden AL Times)  While third-party candidates have not fared well at the polls, the number of independent voters is increasing. It is unlikely any third- (fourth- or fifth-) party candidate could win a major election, but the major party that can pick up the most support from the independent voters has the best bet at winning. With that in mind, the number of candidates from obscure parties is declining. 
• Sabrin: Are independents America’s third party? (NORTHJERSEY.COM, Murray Sabrin is professor of finance at Ramapo College and was the Libertarian Party nominee for governor in 1997 and a GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2000 and 2008.)
• Angry voters could affect both parties (By Kristi Keck, CNN)

ELECTION REFORM

• Critics say redistricting panel needs diversity (Marisa Lagos, SF Chronicle Sacramento Bureau) When voters were asked to approve a plan in 2008 to let private citizens instead of politicians draw legislative boundaries, supporters touted the initiative as a way to depoliticize the process and eliminate conflicts of interest, while opponents said it would create a secretive and unaccountable commission that wouldn't reflect the diversity of the state.

OBAMA STATE OF THE UNION

• More (Steve) Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs (By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN, NY Times) The most striking feature of Barack Obama’s campaign for the presidency was the amazing, young, Internet-enabled, grass-roots movement he mobilized to get elected. The most striking feature of Obama’s presidency a year later is how thoroughly that movement has disappeared.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

• Borne seeks to establish third party in New Hampshire (By Alexis Macarchuk, Seacoast online) Member of New American Independent Party doing outreach in NH

NORTH CAROLINA

• Number of N.C.'s voters up 1.2M (Winston Salem Journal) Numbers released yesterday by elections watchdog Democracy North Carolina show that the number of independent voters in the state has increased by 83 percent since 2000.

SOUTH CAROLINA

• Extremely Restrictive South Carolina Ballot Access Bill Has Upcoming Hearing (Ballot Access News)

UTAH

• Are you an independent who voted for Obama? We want to hear from you (Idaho Statesman)

NEW YORK

• Bloomberg's Independence (Pay)Day (BY ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, NY Daily News/Daily Poltics) Last year, the mayor gave $400,000 to the city Indys, who don't get along with MacKay and his crowd, after running on their line for a third time. That's $150,000 more than the $250,000 Bloomberg gave the party in 2005.
• REBNY’s Independence Party Funds (By Eliot Brown, NY Observer)
• AP source: Clinton planner joins NYC mayor's staff (By SARA KUGLER, The Associated Press, Washington Post)

LAST WORD

• THE MOVEMENT: The rise of Tea Party activism. (by Ben McGrath, The New Yorker)

memory

Independents, Massachusetts and the Good Ol' Tea Party

Independent voters have the upper hand. But who are they and what do they want? The independent movement is a broad movement defined increasingly by its own activity at the grassroots to reform election laws to include the 40% of the electorate that doesn't consider itself aligned with either major party. These reforms include open primaries, fair ballot access for independent candidates and appointments of independents to entities such as the Federal Election Commission and local redistricting commissions. Below are the headlines from the past week since the election of Scott Brown as Senator from Massachusetts.


Also, I highly recommend the article by Patrick Coolican in the Las Vegas Sun about the subjective state of the new old time right wing Tea Party movement. 


INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Third party: Both parties have lost credibility (LETTER Florida Times Union - Jacksonville) Perhaps the emergence of such a party would break the seemingly intractable political gridlock that has served the nation poorly for far too long and give all Americans a reason to once again feel optimistic about the country's future
• Independents are calling the electoral shots (Doyle McManus, LA Times) In any case, most independents -- contrary to claims from the "tea party" camp -- are looking for bipartisanship and centrism, not bloody-shirt populism.
• Main Street's Message (by Salena Zito, Townhall) No party that tells Americans what to do, socially or financially, is safe from independents.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• South Dajita: Lawmakers ponder changes as Democrats open primaries (By: Bob Mercer, Mitchell Republic Capitol Bureau)
• Standing Up for Change (by SASHA ABRAMSKY, The Nation) Electoral Reform. The Monterey-based group Reform for Change is leading the charge to build public support for changes in how elections are conducted--particularly for open primaries and new methods of redistricting that would make elections more competitive.
• Do Two California Ballot Measures, Both on the June 2010 Ballot, Conflict with Each Other? (Ballot Access News)
• Here’s the point: Unenrolled voters shouldn’t have party say (By Richard Greeley, Wicked Plympton MA News)

INDEPENDENTS AND MASSACHUSETTS

• Salit: Obama Is Losing Independents (By Azi Paybarah, NY Observer)
• Exit Survey Of Massachusetts Voters Confirms Lack Of Enthusiasm Among Progressives Hurt Coakley (Think Progress blog)
• Mazzaglia: Victory for the independents (By Frank Mazzaglia, Waltham MA Daily News Tribune)
• Florida Senate race comes down to independents (BY MYRIAM MARQUEZ, Miami Herald)
• G.O.P. Used Energy and Stealth to Win Seat (By ADAM NAGOURNEY, JEFF ZELENY, KATE ZERNIKE and MICHAEL COOPER, NY Times) “For us, this is not so much about Scott Brown as it is about the idea that if we really collaborate as a mass movement, we can take any seat in the country,” said Eric Odom, executive director of the American Liberty Alliance, who helped organize last spring’s Tax Day Tea Party rallies to protest government spending from his home in Chicago.
• Casulaties of Corporatism, Obama-Style (Carl Horowitz, Townhall)
• Coakley's mistakes enabled Brown (By JIM COOGAN, Cape Cod Times) Neither John Kerry in 2004 nor Martha Coakley in 2010 connected with independent voters.
• The militant middle gets its revenge (Metro US, Tom Foreman)
• The New Political Rumbling-Massachusetts may signal an end to old ways of fighting. (By PEGGY NOONAN, Wall Street Journal)
• Massachussetts Shift Wasn't Vote For Republican "Ideals" (By Raynard Jackson, BlackStarNews)
• What Exactly is Voter Anger? (by Robert L. Hanafin, Veterans Today)
• Democrats in denial (By A.B. Stoddard, The Hill/Pundits' Blog) Indeed President Obama and healthcare reform are both more popular than Martha Coakley in the Bay State, as I mentioned in my column this week, but national Democrats should have seen the power of more than 49 percent of unaffiliated voters in Massachusetts. They did not.
• Obama Embarks on Listening Tour-Ohio Trip to Focus on Jobs, not Health Care (By ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON, Wall Street Journal)
• The Declaration of Independents (Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post)
• The Great Unalignment (By MATT BAI, NY Times)
• Scott Brown’s Massachusetts win fueled by independent voters (By Tracey D. Samuelson, Christian Science Monitor)
• Hit the reset button-- Dems must get independents back (NY Post, Kirsten Powers)
• Ex-RI Sen. Chafee: independents swung Mass race (Boston Herald)
• Mass. Senate race is a sure sign Democrats should hold on to something heavy (Andrea Tantaros, NY Daily News) New York has not only the Independence Party - which has its own line on the ballot - but also a large group of unaffiliated voters...
• Coakley’s failure to communicate (By Dan Payne, Boston Globe) Coakley’s campaign also didn’t understand the anger and fear in the electorate. Unemployment, Wall Street bonuses, stimulus money that didn’t stimulate, small businesses that can’t get loans and US Senators practically bribed to back health care reform. That was the wave that Brown caught and rode to victory.In November, incumbent New York mayor Michael Bloomberg almost got drowned by that wave; he spent $90 million of his own money and nearly lost to an unfunded nobody.
• Independents' anger in Massachusetts a sign of things to come? (By Ed Hornick, CNN)

RHODE ISLAND

• Chafee runs in R.I. as budget hawk (By RAY HENRY Associated Press Writer, The Day)

BARACK OBAMA

• White House Advisers Promise Sharper Focus on Jobs (By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, NY Times)
• One year of Obama--Our view: The campaign promise the new president has made the least progress in fulfilling is the one voters want most ? a change in the way Washington works (Baltimore Sun)
• Reacting to Mass. Rebellion, White House Beefs Up Outside Political Arm (ABC News/Political Punch, Jake Tapper)
• Obama's Big Sellout (MATT TAIBBI, Rolling Stone) The president has packed his economic team with Wall Street insiders intent on turning the bailout into an all-out giveaway

TEA PARTY

• The Tea Party’s (old) paranoia--Today’s fervent ideological movement has roots in post-World War II right (By J. Patrick Coolican, Las Vegas Sun)
• TEA Party factions in Tennessee bear differing agendas (By Bartholomew Sullivan, Memphis Commercial Appeal)
• The Big Question: What is the Tea Party movement, and could it change US politics? (By Rupert Cornwell, The Independent - UK)

The Math of "Top Two"

The GOP is dead in California according Duf Sundheim; this statement comes in the wake of the drastic status change to blue this past November. The most obvious piece of evidence? Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, who had a series of non-partisan election victories, but lost the 2010 state attorney general's race to San Francisco Democrat Kamala Harris, simply for the 'R' next to his name.

UPDATED: As California independent Jon Blankenship points out, it pays to "do the math" when it comes to statements by politicians and the media. And it certainly pays to "read between the lines." For example, what gets left out of most reporting and editoralizing about the new Top Two open primary system that Californians adopted last summer, amid all the chatter about party labels and giving the minority party a better shot at getting their candidates elected, is the simple fact that 3.4 million independent (decline-to-state) VOTERS will be able to have a voice. THAT is the change that's needed if we are to move forward as a country.
CORRECTION: Blankenship pointed out in his letter that people need to "do the math" when it comes to politicians, not top two.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Jon Blankenship, Red Bluff: Do the math (LETTER to the Red Bluff Daily News) As an independent, I try to stay as informed as possible. Both major parties are prone to make mistakes, but sometimes they do it on purpose. I would like to correct mistakes by checking out the truth.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• GOP brand pronounced dead in deep-blue California (Carla Marinucci,Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle) Some believe the open-primary law California voters passed in November could breathe new life into the party. Under the law, the top two finishers in the primary - no matter what party they're from - will move on to the general election. Some believe the new system will allow more moderate Republicans to prosper in districts that now swing Democratic.
• With California election reforms, state GOP might rebound (By Tom Elias, LA Daily Breeze) The new system will let all voters opt for anyone they like in primaries, meaning Democrats can cast ballots for Republicans if there is no serious contest in their own party's race - as when Gov. Jerry Brown ran last spring - and Republicans can vote for Democrats. Party registration may not mean so much anymore, even in fall runoff elections, for study after study has shown that when people vote for a candidate once, they are comfortable doing it again and again. This bodes extremely well for two Republicans who lost last year: Steve Poizner and Abel Maldonado.
• Sample Ballot Released for First California “Top-Two” Election (Ballot Access News) In May 2010 CA Lt Gov Abel Maldonado was on television in New York city, being interviewed, and he said under the California top-two system that he sponsored, any candidate could choose any party label. He said, for example, that a candidate could prefer the Farmer Party. Also, in December 2010, when he received an award from IndependentVoting, he told the group that under his plan, all candidates can choose any label they wish.

REDISTRICTING

• Editorial: Let others in on the redistricting (The MetroWest Daily News) The advantage of an independent commission is that it can keep purely political considerations out of the process by ignoring certain factors, like party registration, precinct voting histories and the addresses of potential opponents. In Iowa, where an independent body has drawn the district lines for decades, such data cannot even be put in the computer.

OBAMA

• State of the Union a 'fundamental moment' for Obama (By Peter Nicholas and Christi Parsons, Washington Bureau, LA Times) Obama has been moving steadily to the political center since his midterm election drubbing two months ago, agreeing to extend tax cuts for the richest Americans, calling for business-friendly regulations and attempting to repair his relationship with the business community. His speech Tuesday is an opportunity to showcase that transformation, especially to independent voters.

REPUBLICANS

• Mitt Romney tops New Hampshire presidential straw poll; tea-party favorite Jack Kimball elected state GOP chair (By Felicia Sonmez, Washington Post/The Fix) The New Hampshire presidential primary is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 14, 2012 and is open to registered Republicans and independent voters. While straw polls such as today's set expectations and indicate early support, they're typically worth taking with a large grain of salt, as they sample a small cross-section of the New Hampshire primary electorate.

KENTUCKY

• Kentucky Independent Gubernatorial Candidate Invited to Forum with Major Party Opponents (Ballot Access News) Galbraith was the Reform Party gubernatorial nominee in 1999, when he received 15.42% of the vote.

BLOOMBERG

• Mayor Lashes Out at Judge (By MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL, Wall Street Journal) On Thursday, Judge Emily Jane Goodman issued a temporary restraining order preventing the city from laying off nine deputy sheriffs and demoting three supervising deputy sheriffs.

EDUCATION REFORM

• Education Secretary Duncan says Minnesota can do better to bridge achievement gap (AP, St. Cloud Times) He said Minnesota, like other states in the nation, was becoming more racially diverse but wasn’t doing enough to help students on the wrong side of the achievement gap catch up.

National Organizer of Independents Speaks to the Lessons of Massachusetts

 Statement received via email today:

"The Obama team needs to learn a lesson from Massachusetts,” said Jackie Salit, president of IndependentVoting.org , a national association of independent voters.  “If you don't attend to the political dynamics in the independent movement, you'll pay the price. That movement is in the early stages of its development and is subject to many pushes and pulls. While the progressive leadership of the movement played the key role in swinging independents to Obama in 2008, the Obama team has turned a blind eye since then, choosing instead to focus only on the Democratic Party base.  But if you do that, instead of finding ways to cultivate the progressive voices in independent politics, you're going to lose elections like the one yesterday. And, you might even lose the White House if you don't wake up to the fact that there is an emerging political universe - the independent movement - that you know nothing about.”

Apparently at least ONE Dem agrees. From today's CNN Analysis by Marc Preston: Brown's win changes political narrative for 2010: One of the biggest challenges for Democrats is wooing back independent voters, who broke Brown's way Tuesday to help him beat Coakley. "If we don't figure out a way to talk to independent voters, we are done," lamented another high-level Democratic staffer, speaking freely on the condition of anonymity. (Marc Preston, CNN Political Editor)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 1/20/2010

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• U.S. Shifted Party, Not Ideology (By GERALD F. SEIB, Wall Street Journal) The reality is that Democrats were renting a lot of centrist voters in 2006 and 2008, but didn't really own them. And now Democrats seem to be losing their grip on some of those centrist, independent-minded voters.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• South Dakota Bill to Implement Independent Voters Voting Absentee in Democratic Party Primary (Ballot Access News)
• Legislation revises law to allow ballot choice for Independents (By ELISA SAND, Staff Reporter, Madison Daily Leader) Kim Wright, spokesman for the South Dakota Voice of Independents, said she has attempted to contact the Republican Party about opening up its party ballot to Independent voters but has yet to hear from a representative.

MASSACHUSETTS

• Independent Voters Abandon Democrats--To Win Back Vital Bloc, Party Plans to Retool Midterm-Election Message to Focus on Economy and Play Down Health Care (By PETER WALLSTEN, Wall Street Journal)
• Blame the Left for Massachusetts--Democrats should be willing to seek common-ground reforms. (By LANNY J. DAVIS, Wall Street Journal)
• Brown's Win: Rise of the Tea Partiers, or Alienation of the Indie Voters? (David Corn, Politics Daily)
• Messages From Massachusetts: The Meaning of Scott Brown (by Michael Medved, Townhall) Third party bids amount to nothing more than embarrassing, destructive distractions.
• Tea Party PAC Spends Big for Scott Brown; Unions Pay Up for Martha Coakley (Patricia Murphy, Politics Daily/Capitolist)

COLORADO

• Curry’s Re-Election Hopes Tied to Lawsuit in La Plata County (State Bill News)
• Joelle Riddle challenges election laws - Unaffiliated candidates have disadvantage, lawsuit contends (by Dale Rodebaugh, Durango Herald)
• Commissioner considering forming new political party (by Dale Rodebaugh, Durango Herald)

NEW YORK

• Bloomberg Outspent Thompson By More Than 10-to-1 (BY ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Daily News/Daily Politics)
• Ford Keeps Attacking Gillibrand, Seeks Support From Party Boss (Gothamist)

the task

is dead, long live the task

Independent Voters: Let's Get This UNparty Started!

Jackie Salit's analysis of independents' support of Obama, health care and the current state of the independent movement... Mass independents are lining up behind Brown in the upcoming special election to fill Ted Kennedy's seat in the US Senate -- ignore the independents at your own peril! ...More and more elected officials are leaving the parties... Why are California minor parties SOOOOO negative on open primaries? ....Bloomberg's investment in the NYC Independence Party -- is Harold Ford looking in the wrong direction? Hmmm......

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Swing to the left: new progressives (By JACKIE SALIT, INDEPENDENCE PARTY, Pueblo Chieftan - Southern CO)
• Hard-to-predict independents hold key to election outcome -Polls show Brown ahead of Coakley in that segment (By Brian C. Mooney, Boston Globe)
• His health-care agenda at risk, Obama stumps in Massachusetts (By Paul Kane and Karl Vick, Washington Post)
• In Senate Race, Massachusetts Bucks a Political Stereotype (By MICHAEL COOPER, NY Times)

INDEPENDENT POLITICIANS

• Top stories of December 2009 (ENC Today Kinston NC) Outgoing councilman Jimmy Cousins takes the opportunity to tell all assembled that he is leaving the Democratic Party

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Could Arnold Schwarzenegger Have Won a Closed Republican Primary for California Governor in 2003? (Ballot Access News)
• What’s the Solution to California’s Woes? Commentary: Empowering Independents With a New Open Primary (By Jason Olson, IndependentVoice.Org, La Prensa San Diego)
• Green Party's California gubernatorial candidate steps up (By Jack Chang, Sac Bee)

NEW YORK

• The Cost For Row C: $400K (BY ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Daily News/Daily Politics)
• Harold Ford courts Suffolk Independence Party (Newsday - subscription required) 

we

Thanks to Dr. Tom

Some Questions for Independent Voters, Democracy Advocates and Third Parties

Is it possible to have political organization that isn't a political party? Can people impact policy without being organized as a voting bloc? How do you fight the power of entrenched corrupt partisan organizations without becoming one of them? Where does the issue of power come in? How can independents break out of paralysis? What is "personal democracy"? Isn't democracy by definition collective, and thus requires organization? Why do most minor parties object to open primaries? Wouldn't third parties be well served by inviting independents to participate in their candidate selection process? Is the Tea Party independent, or a right wing faction of the Repubs hoping to push the RP to the right?

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Politics is People, Not Parties (Future Majority/Craig Berger's Blog) Because our political arena is so intensely focused on parties, we lose focus on myriad facets of politics: the people, their needs, the dialogue itself.... As the excerpt above suggests, the emphasis on politics is people, not organizations...
•  THIS ARTICLE is also posted with commentary on Wire Tap Mag
•  NOTE: Author of the quoted text is Alejandro Ribo, who seems to be the European (Spanish) version of techPresident, which "was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah L. Sifry as a crosspartisan group blog covering how the 2008 presidential candidates were using the web, and vice versa, how content generated by voters affected the campaign." Rasiej and Sifry host a yearly conference called Personal Democracy Forum centering around issues of communications technology, open internet policy, and government "transparency" that draws 1000 techies from across the country. Independent Mayor Mike Bloomberg was their keynote last year
• Tough love letter to African-Americans who don't vote and disrespect Dr. King's fight for our rights (Message from Montie, Chicago Now)
• Prominent black Democrat defends Reid--Donna Brazile argues the recession, connecting with independents will be senator’s obstacle (By Michael Mishak, Las Vegas Sun) “This will be more of a national election with a local taste to it,” Brazile said. “And independents remain the missing ingredient in every election stew I’ve come to analyze.”
• Independent Paralysis (Talk Talk, Fred Newman and Jackie Salit)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• GOP debate on primary raises specter of Avedisian vulnerability (by John Howell, Warwick Beacon RI)
• American Independent Party (Keyes Faction) Formally Resolves to Block Independents from Voting in AIP Primaries (Ballot Access News)

STATE RACES

• Hickenlooper's hat in ring for Colorado governorship (By Lynn Bartels, The Denver Post)
• Maverick voters in spotlight (By Edward Mason and Jessica Fargen, Boston Herald)

TEA PARTY

• In Power Push, Movement Sees Base in G.O.P. (By KATE ZERNIKE, NY Times)

JOIN ME TONIGHT!

Everything Independent: Rai-mon Nemar of Legendmag.net

BlogTalkRadio/Hankster

Call-in Number: (347) 884-8634

Friday, January 15

7pm EST, 5pm Central, 4pm West Coast

The Hankster interviews Rai-mon Nemar, founder of LEGENDmag

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 1/14/10

Everything Independent: Rai-mon Nemar of Legendmag.net

BlogTalkRadio/Hankster

Call-in Number: (347) 884-8634

Friday, January 15

7pm EST

The Hankster interviews Rai-mon Nemar, founder of LEGENDmag

A note from All Stars Project youth program director Pam Lewis:

On Monday, January 18^th at 10:30am, the All Stars Project is hosting a special celebration in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The young people participating in the event will be dedicating their performances to the people of Haiti. The program will feature an appeal from three Haitian-American All Stars youth leaders, Jube Charles, Chris Elian, and Gregory Castin, who will ask guests to contribute to support Haiti relief efforts. For more on the event, please visit our website.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• The Great Centrist Issue--Is 2010 the year for No Child Left Behind? (By Chester E. Finn Jr., National Review)
• San Francisco Green Party Sees Its Fortunes Sour--Declines in Membership, Donations Mirror National Organization's Struggles; Headquarters Close but Meetings Remain (By STU WOO, Wall Street Journal)
• The Green Party's nadir--With its numbers down and its stars leaving, a progressive party contemplates its prospects (By Steven T. Jones, San Francisco Bay Guardian)
• Gallup, Quinnipiac Show Broad Disapproval of Obama on Health-Care (By Daniel Foster, National Review)
• Quinnipiac: Obama approval 45% (BY ED MORRISSEY, Hot Air)
• January 13, 2010 - Obama's Approval Splits Evenly For First Time, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Voters Split On Whether First Year Is Success Or Failure (Quinnipiac)
• Obama political arm under fire (By: Ben Smith and Alex Isenstadt, Politico)
•  Report by Ari Melber on techPresident about the Organizing for America base

NONPARTISAN ELECTIONS

• A needed change (Beckley WV Register Herald)
• Beckley election change passes first reading (By Amelia A. Pridemore, Register-Herald Reporter)
• Hillsborough County mayor's job should be nonpartisan (St. Petersburg Times/TampaBay.com)

NEW YORK - Working Families Party

• Rose Treasurer Claims Others Wrote CFB Affidavits For Him--First day of testimony in Mastro lawsuit against Data & Field, Debi Rose (By Edward-Isaac Dovere, City Hall News)

Support the Haitian People

UPDATED 1/14/10
Please give in any way you can to help the people of Haiti in the wake of the earthquake. Some recommendations from my friends:

Yele Haiti http://www.yele.org/

7+ Reputable Charities Working on Haiti Earthquake Relief http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/haiti-earthquake-relief-47011302#ixzz0cYWX1Bwo

Orgs listed on NY Times today
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/haiti-disaster-relief-how-to-contribute/

The UN https://secure.unicefusa.org/site/Donation2?df_id=6680&6680.donation=form1

UPDATE:
techPresident recommends mobile giving:

http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/mobile-donations-haiti-relief-without-mobile-fees

Given the situation in Haiti, we asked our go to mobile expert, Katrin Verclas of MobileActive to clear up some of the confusion about whether mobile donations meet towards Haiti relief are being reduced by mobile fees. SMS donations to the Red Cross, she reports, are being passed through without any carrier fees or processing fees, with the Mobile Giving Foundation and MGive(operated by Mobile Accord, a company working with the State Department on its mobile program) are handling the transaction (and declining to take a cut). Texting HAITI to 90999 sends ten U.S. dollars to the Red Cross.

Making contributions via your cell phone is convenient, but you can also, of course, give directly through the Red Cross website or by calling the Red Cross at 1-800-REDCROSS. It seems like all donations, mobile or otherwise, will go into the Red Cross's generic funding pool, to be allocated where they see the most need.

Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti foundation is fundraising online, and pledging 100% of the funds raised to relief efforts. And the State Department is  tweeting the situation in Haiti.

UPDATE: Also worth mentioning is the online fundraising being done Partners in Health, the organization led by Dr. Paul Farmer that has been working to improve lives and public health throughout Haiti for many years now. (Pick up Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains for a look at the work that PIH does, and how it does it.)

You can also contact The Hankster, and we will help you connect with organizations giving help to the people of Haiti.

Independent Paralysis and Two-Party Pigeons

Increasingly independent Italian community in CT and independents everywhere remain independent... R.I. Repub chief doesn't support closing the primaries... Yes, Arizona independents -- you CAN vote in the primaries!.... Indiana HB 1140 keeps primaries open... Right wing of the Republican Party (i.e. Tea Party) warns supporters not to go rogue (i.e. nonparty).... And what's all that stuff happening in New York? Upstate NY IP party boss jockeying for his next job, WFP under the gun, and Harold Ford might be an Edsel...

MUST READ: Independent Paralysis (Talk Talk with Fred Newman and Jackie Salit) Electoral politics is in a state of entropy. It’s paralyzed...


INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Italian community sees political shift (By Magdalene Perez, Stamford Advocate) Among a randomly selected group of 129 currently registered voters with Italian surnames, one-third, or 33 percent, are registered Democrats, 36 percent are Republicans, and 29 percent are unaffiliated.
• 10 Tips for the GOP in 2010--Voters who want Democrats out don't yet believe Republicans would be better. (By CLARK S. JUDGE, Wall Street Journal)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Cicione rebuffs demands to resign (By Philip Marcelo, Providence Journal) GOP R.I. Chairman Cicione does not support the idea of a closed primary and has refused to call a special meeting of the state central committee this month to consider the proposal, which would require that voters register as Republicans at least 90 days prior to the primary to vote.
• Independents, you can vote in primaries (by Linda Valdez, The Arizona Republic) A registered independent, Lynn says the lack of understanding among independents about their voting rights is a significant problem.
• Republican to enter race for governor Tuesday (NBC 10 CT) Cicione said Laffey’s exit from the race does not change recent debate over how to run the Republican primary. Laffey supporters had been pushing for closing the primary to independent voters.
• FACT CHECK: Schwarzenegger presides over same dealmaking for which he lampoons Neb. senator (JUDY LIN, Associated Press, LA Times)
• High-profile posts go to potential candidates (Tracy Warner, Ft. Wayne IN Journal Gazette) House Bill 1140 would remove the requirement that voters in the primaries declare whether they are Democrat or Republican. The bill would not create a truly open primary, where voters could pick and choose the party depending on the office, but voters would choose a D or R ballot in private, without a public record of party affiliation.
• North Chamber hosts California Open Primary Initiative forum (By San Diego Daily Transcript)

GOVERNORS RACES

• Surprising GOP surge could derail Coakley candidacy (By Chris Szabla, Harvard Law Record) But absent from the PPP poll’s choices is independent candidate Joe Kennedy, who has no relation to the Kennedy family, but whose confusing name might have some influence on the outcome of the race. The Globe poll showed Kennedy pulling 5%. Moreover, PPP, while affiliated with Democrats, shares a suspect phone-touch methodology with Rasmussen.
• With clock ticking down, candidates’ attacks ramp up (By Brian C. Mooney, Boston Globe) Kennedy, who is not related to the famed political clan, differed with both candidates at times, saying he opposed the health care overhaul, as well as sending more troops to Afghanistan. Neither of his opponents has advanced any serious proposals to reduce government spending, said Kennedy, a member of the Libertarian Party, who is in single digits in the polls.
• Democrats and Double Standards (By JAMES TARANTO, Democrats Against Democracy , Wall Street JournalDemocrats Against Democracy (Wall Street Journal) What all these surveys have in common, though, is that the greater the level of voter engagement, the better Brown does. 
• Laffey decides against run for R.I. governor (By Katherine Gregg, Providence Journal State House Bureau)
• Great Scott! In Massachusetts, some pieces are coming together for Brown, but will it be enough? (By Jim Geraghty, National Review Online)

TEA PARTY

• Not another party (by Paul Jacob, Town Hall) An independent, citizen-led political movement is precisely the antidote for the professional partisan politics that is killing our golden goose. But it is critical the movement not become yet another political party.

NEW YORK

• Gillibrand Met with MacKay (By Azi Paybarah, NY Observer)
• Gunning for the Working Families Party (By Tom Robbins, Village Voice)
• Psst, Harold ... They Don't Like Carpetbaggers In New York (NPR/Political Junkie)
• Dissecting the ACORN vote fraud scam (DIRECTORBLUE, Hot Air/Greenroom)
• 'Trying' time for WFP (By SALLY GOLDENBERG, NY Post)
• Independence Party Chairman Frank MacKay on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (WBGH - ABC News Channel 34 Binghamton)
• ‘Donors’ star in latest Dem drama (Ed Garvey, The Cap Times blog) 
• Hotel workers check in as major political players--How union went from sideline-sitter to game-changer in two years flat (Danile Massey, Crain's New York) Some 500 HTC members, including 250 Tavern on the Green workers who are now battling for a contract, helped Mayor Michael Bloomberg eke out a victory on Election Day. It was a virtual sweep for the union, whose top candidates won the two other citywide races and nine of 10 City Council races.

BlogTalkRadio: Friday Night with The Hankster and Rai-mon Nemar 1/15/10

The Hankster interviews Rai-mon Nemar, founder of LEGENDmag on BlogTalkRadio/Hankster

Join us to discuss everything independent!

LEGENDmag's goal is to help local, national, and international independent brands, the people behind them, the art that inspires them, and the causes that support them, become a part of the world's everyday decision making.

Join us to discuss why indie politics, gaming, fashion, art, and business is where it's at.

Call (347) 884-8634

Friday, January 15

7pm East Coast Time, 4pm West Coast Time

other voices

thanks to The Moderate Voice for the graphic (which originally came from Pew Research)!

What Does It Mean to be Independent? (Hint: No Machine Politics Here!)

What does it mean to be independent? Check out the dialog over at Donklephant (where yours truly is a guest blogger)... Gallup is saying more independents now identify as conservative and Dems feel the force... The Chicago Reader reveals that Independent Voters of Illinois is part of the Daley machine (no surprise there)... Repubs in R.I. move to close primaries to indies... Glenwood Springs CO Post Independent supports State Representative Kathleen Curry's new unaffiliated status, and Bertie Arnhols of Aurora UT NC (thanks to Richard Winger for this correction!) leaves the party to run for commissioner as unaffiliated.... And speaking of Utah -- It's Anybody's Game!

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Conservatives Finish 2009 as No. 1 Ideological Group--Uptick owing largely to more independents calling themselves conservative (by Lydia Saad, Gallup) Political independents showed increased attachment to the "conservative" label in 2009, boosting the overall ranks of that group so that it now clearly outnumbers moderates in Gallup's annual averages for the first time since 2004.
• Democrats' retirements point to shifting political landscape (By Janet Hook, LA Times)
• Independent of What? How north-side party regulars engineered a progressive endorsement for their candidate (By Ben Joravsky, Chicago Reader)
• Once riding high, Democrats now see disaster ahead (By STEVEN THOMMA AND DAVID LIGHTMAN, Kansas City Star)

OPEN PRIMARIES - ELECTION REFORM

• R.I. Republican identity crisis: How far right is right? (By Katherine Gregg, Providence Journal State House Bureau)
• GOP executive board moves to close primary, leadership remains obstinate (by Russell J. Moore, Warwick Beacon)
• N.J. Assembly approves measure moving non-partisan elections to November (Newark Star Ledger)
• A vote for democracy (Asbury Park Press)
• Denver Post Criticizes Restrictive Ballot Access Law for Independent Candidates (Ballot Access News)
• Candidate ineligible for sheriff election (By Richard  Gould | Hickory Daily Record - NC)

COLORADO + UTAH = INDEPENDENT REVOLT!

• Former Republican candidate defects--Bertie Arnhols of Aurora is circulating a petition she hopes will allow her to run as an unaffiliated candidate for Beaufort County commissioner. (By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE, Washington Daily News)
• Applauding Curry's decision (Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado)
• Alone without a party, Rep. Curry hopes to remain effective (by Brent Gardner-Smith, Aspen Daily News) And Curry wants to reduce the length of time before an election that unaffiliated candidates have to declare their candidacy.

NEW YORK

• Despite Loss Against Bloomberg, Thompson Announces 2013 Mayoral Bid (Kris Alingod - AHN)
• Reid's plea to Mike: Don't buy this Ford! (By MAGGIE HABERMAN and JENNIFER FERMINO, NY Post)

ON THE BLOGS

• Anybody's Game: Utah's Independent Candidates for Congress 2010 (Damon Eris, Poli-Tea) Quotes Randy Miller of Utah League of Independent Voters (ULIV)
• Lieberman tanks (Public Policy Polling) 80% disapproval rating...

Everything Independent: Rai-mon Nemar of Legendmag.net on BlogTalkRadio with The Hankster Friday Jan. 16 7pm ET

Date / Time: 1/15/2010 7:00 PM
BlogTalkRadio
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hankster/2010/01/16/everything-independent-rai-mon-nemar-of-legendmagnet

Call-in Number: (347) 884-8634

The Hankster interviews Rai-mon Nemar, founder of LEGENDmag. 

Rai-mon Nemar is a young entrepreneur based in San Francisco who  is a supporter of independentvoting.org and their agenda of political reform. (He supports open primaries. See below.)

This online magazine's goal is to help local, national, and international independent brands, the people behind them, the art that inspires them, and the causes that support them, become a part of the world's everyday decision making.

Join us to discuss why indie politics, gaming, fashion, art, and business is where it's at.

Call (347) 884-8634

Friday, January 15

7pm East Coast Time, 4pm West Coast Time

HOW THE INDEPENDENTS PUT BARACK OBAMA IN OFFICE.

I’m a member of independentvoice.org an organization that is dedicated to giving independents a national political voice. They’ve been at it for a loooong time now. They first thought the solution was forming a national independent party (the name they actually used years ago escapes me right now) but they have since let go of that tactic choosing instead to galvanize indies to have a collective voice. Take a look at what’s going on if you in the San Francisco Bay Area. Here’s what’s going on, straight from them.

I wanted to send you some more info on our San Francisco Video Showing. It’s coming up on August 23rd at 1:30 PM at the San Francisco Main Library. And I want you to be there, when was the last time someone asked you to a movie?  

The video is a fantastic look at the independent movement movement. Afterward we’ll be talking about how we build our organized strength and pass the new open here in California.

View the Video Trailer and Get More Information

It’s a great way to plug into things at an exciting time.  I really want to see you there!

stormy weather ahead

What's the Matter with Us? (Hint: It's not the people, it's the parties)

Thomas Frank (What's the Matter with Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America) presents an interesting take on the "fake populism" that's so popular right now. He's probably right that the Dems are satisfied that "those people" (i.e. disaffected independents) have nowhere else to go. Of course Jackie Salit (How the Independent Movement Went Left by Going Right) & Co. know better... Several "free market" groups think the Tea Party "movement" should "work within the [two-party] system"... RI Repubs want to close their primaries to keep out independents, and Thurman Hart pens a wonderfully rich little piece on the value and proper positioning of nonpartisan elections... The Denver Post calls for fairness in Colorado's election laws, which currently discriminate against independents... Jana Kemp has made it official -- she'll run as an indie for Gov of Idaho.... And Charlie Rangel wouldn't bet his house on a Dem mayor in 2013 -- After all, once you go independent, you are quite transcendent!

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Watch Out for GOP Populism (By THOMAS FRANK, Wall Street Journal) For millions of disaffected independent voters, meanwhile, the tail-chasing logic behind the "down with big business" rhetoric probably won't make any difference.
• The Tea Party Teens (By DAVID BROOKS, NY Times) The Rasmussen organization asked independent voters whom they would support in a generic election between a Democrat, a Republican and a tea party candidate. The tea party candidate won, with 33 percent of independents. Undecided came in second with 30 percent. The Democrats came in third with 25 percent and the Republicans fourth with 12 percent.
• liberalism, it's hangover time--America isn’t eager to embrace Obama’s ‘leftward ho!’ after all (By Jonah Goldberg, USA Today/OpEd)
• Fundraising Woes Could Hold Back the GOP in 2010 (By Suzy Khimm, Newsweek/The Gaggle)
• No Tea Party--A grassroots movement is more effective (By Colin Hanna, Washington Times)  NOTE: Colin Hanna is president of Let Freedom Ring.
• Tea Parties Versus The Two Parties--How A Non-Party Wins The Hearts Of Independent Swing Voters (BY JOHN M. O’HARA, FOR THE BULLETIN, Philadelphia) NOTE: John O'Hara is with the Heartland Institute)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• RI GOP leaders advance closed primary plan (By MICHELLE R. SMITH, Nashua Telegraph) Under current rules, unaffiliated voters can decide on primary day to vote as a Republican or Democrat. The proposal would require that primary voters register as a Republican 90 days before the election.
• R.I. Republicans debate primary open only to registered members (By Richard C. Dujardin, Providence Journal)
• RI Republican leaders advance plan to close primary; push to make change for 2010 primary (MICHELLE R. SMITH, LA Times)
• RI GOP Mulls Members-Only Primaries (Chris Boardman, ABC6 R.I.)
• RI GOP Leaders Advance Closed Primary Plan (NY Times)
• Schwarzenegger enters final year plagued by overwhelming budget problems, low approval (JULIET WILLIAMS, LA Times)
• California Private Health Insurance PAC Contributes $100,000 to Campaign in Support of “Top-Two Open Primary” (Ballot Access News)
• An odd goose from a lame duck (By Thurman Hart, NJ.com) First of all, the entire purpose of having nonpartisan elections is to separate individual candidates from the power of political parties. Separating nonpartisan elections from partisan elections is a logical extension of that. Combining nonpartisan elections with partisan elections is going to be somewhat of a logistical nightmare - at best. At worst, it will make the "nonpartisan" nature of the election a running joke (as if they weren't already).
• Keyes Faction of California American Independent Party Likely to Exclude Independents from Voting in Party’s Primary (Ballot Access News)
• Manipulating the Process To Get the Result You Want Isn't Reform (by Robert Cruickshank, California Progress Report) Since it's not possible to draw districts in California that are competitive without truly massive gerrymandering and diluting the preferences of the electorate, which is much more strongly Democratic than anything else, Guardino and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group are throwing their weight behind Abel Maldonado's top two primary, which he got on the June ballot only through an act of blackmail.
• California's scary sneak preview (By Ezra Klein, Washington Post) The lesson of California is that a political system too dysfunctional to avert crisis is also too dysfunctional to respond to it. The difficulty is not economic so much as it is political; solving our fiscal problem is a mixture of easy arithmetic and hard choices, but until we solve our political problem, both are out of reach...
• A first look at the June 2010 Ballot Propositions (LA Republican Examiner, John Stammreich) The top-two system "wipes minor party and independent candidates out of the general election campaign season...

COLORADO

• Unfair requirements for independent candidates (Editorial, By The Denver Post) While we don't believe the rules should change specifically for Curry or Riddle, we do believe ballot access should be the same for all candidates regardless of party or non-affiliation.
• Rep. Curry's independence costs her two posts (By Tim Hoover, The Denver Post)
• Unaffiliated Curry says party change was welcomed (by Brent Gardner-Smith, Aspen Daily News)
• Gov. Ritter may not run in 2010 (by Liz Sidoti and Steven Paulson, Durango Herald)

IDAHO

• Eye On Boise: Kemp launches independent campaign (Spokesman Review)
• Jana Kemp kicks off independent governor run (Idaho Statesman)
• Former lawmaker Jana Kemp makes independent run for governor official (Idaho Statesman)

NEW YORK

• As Clout Grows, Working Families Party Faces a Question: Has It Reached Too Far? (By MICHAEL POWELL, NY Times) Some real estate professionals, intent on a direct challenge to the Working Families Party, have taken partial control of the Independence Party. They poured about $700,000 into races in 2009.
• Rangel: 'Gotta Learn To Live' With Bloomberg (BY ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Daily News/Daily Politics)
• ACORN's City Hall branch (NY Post)