CNN's Don Lemon with Independent Panel TONIGHT: Omar Ali, Joe Gandelman and Nicole Kurokawa on Broken Government

7:20pm -- Ok, just heard from Don Lemon, independent panel pushed to 10pm because of Chili earthquake. (Thanks, Don) donlemoncnn @NancyHanks independents at 10p. got moved because of chili breaking news this weekend.

Please stay tuned!

7:15pm -- Well, I got myself set up here with peanuts and Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream in my friend and neighbor's apartment (she gets CNN and I don't....) Jack Cafferty is on talking about lobbying and the powers that be. Still waiting for the ordinary independents...


Heads up from The Moderate Voice:
NOTE: CNN’s Don Lemon is going to do another independent voter panel discussion today (the most likely topic wil bel panelists’ reaction to the health care reform summit). As was the case in weekend segments over the past four weeks, I’ll be on a panel with Omar Ali, the historian and independent voting analyst and Nicole Kurokawa, an independent voting analyst in Washington.
TUNE IN!
And watch for Hankster live-Twitter at 7pm NY times...
http://twitter.com/NancyHanks

JP Avlon -- Photo-op centrism is not enough: Can centrists and independents come together on systemic policy issues?

A round roundup of what's on the minds of independent pundits and voters from Florida to Massachusetts to New York. Starting out with a little ditty from newly acquisitioned Daily Beast/former New York Sun journalist John P. Avlon (John P. Avlon is senior political columnist for The Daily Beast and author of the new book "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America.")


Avlon says in his CNN post yesterday "Why centrist voters are fed up":

But photo-op centrism is, of course, not enough. It must be followed by substance. To really change the culture of Washington, we need to change the rules that reinforce this predictable partisanship.

The quickest policy cure would be to change the rigged system of redistricting that creates congressional 'safe seats' and replaces competitive general elections with closed primaries, where party activists reign supreme. Nonpartisan redistricting and open primaries would reward politicians who reach across the aisle, and would empower independent voters.

Can centrists and independents come together on these systemic policy issues? I think so! And because independents do (NOT) = centrists, we have a shot. (-NH)

And while you're here on The Hankster, don't skip Florida's redistricting issues, or a possible new Massachusetts independent party.

And as for New York -- what's going on in the Empire State? Well, the first independent mayor of New York City (Michael Bloomberg), backed by the NYC Independence Party county organizations (When does the county count more than the state? HINT: When the NYC IP is involved...) (Full disclosure, I'm the Treasurer of the Queens County Executive Committee of the Independence Party of New York, and a long-time activist for independent politics) gave money to the NY State Independence Party, which gave money to a local Repub operative who gave money to ____? Where will it all end? Hopefully, in the hands of the people.

Not really sure about this. But NY media is really excited. And a note about the "other" third party, the Working Families Party, which (having played a major role in the election of the "other" city-wide offices City Comptroller (former Queens City Councilmember John Liu) and City Advocate (Betsy Gotbaum's old job) is now under attack from the official election regulation bureaucracy. Small wonder...

Read on!

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Why centrist voters are fed up (By John P. Avlon, Special to CNN)
• GOP race draws crossover independents (by MARTIN BARTLETT / KVUE News, Austin TX)

FLORIDA

• Drawing new lines: Erasing politicians’ self-interest in redistricting process (Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel)

MASSACHUSETTS

• Poll: Independent party seeks recognition (By Steve Adams, The Patriot Ledger)

NEW YORK

• Mayor Bloomberg's money was able to buy silence concerning possible election miscues (ADAM LISBERG, Daily News)
• Replacing Hiram And Cleaning Up The System (By MICHAEL SCHENKLER) & Blast the Bosses; Chide The ‘Reformers’ (By HENRY STERN) Queens Tribune/Not For Publication blog
• Monserrate fights to regain lost Senate position-After judge denies appeal, disgraced politician accumulates 5,500 signatures to register in election (By Jeremy Walsh, YourNabe - Queens)
• How a Sale by Zuckerman Could Buy Murdoch's Backing for Senate (By JEFF BERCOVICI, Daily Finance - an AOL Money and Finance website)
• On Transit Advocacy, Working Families Party Misses the Mark Again (by Ben Fried, Streets Blog (a national "livable city streets" site)
• The Independence Party Tries a Buttoned-Down Appeal (By Azi Paybarah and Eliot Brown, Ny Observer)
• Forced Out By Failure To Nab Independence Line, Sears Vows To Make Future Run (By Chris Bragg, City Hall News) “The Republican Party needs the Independence Party. That’s the team that wins everything,” the source said.
• Sears nixes GOP Special Election nod (BY PETE DAVIS, Queens Courier)
• NEW YORK
• Candidate Zuckerman? (By: Michael Barone, San Francisco Examiner/Beltway Confidential)
• Settlement Reached in Suit Against Working Families Party (By MICHAEL POWELL, NY Times)

snowed out from in

California Prop 14: Independent Voters Fight for Open Primaries

independentvoice.org

Why Independents Support Open Primaries

by Harry Kresky

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to Richard Winger’s statement, “Why Independents are Better Off With More than Two Choices on the November Ballot.”

Most of us share Richard’s desire for a politics in which new ideas take priority over political careers. The issue is how to achieve this. He thinks the answer is to protect the status of minor parties on the grounds that they drive new ideas and social change into the mainstream. But the role of third parties as incubators of political change is limited. History demonstrates that social movements which impact the major parties are more effective in producing sweeping change than third parties. One recent example is the civil rights gains of the sixties which came about through a mass movement that forced the major parties to take long overdue measures to redress employment and other forms of discrimination. It also forced Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act which provided an effective remedy against persistent efforts to deny African-Americans in the South full access to the ballot. Third parties played little if any role in these accomplishments.

Americans don’t look to the third parties as instruments for reform, in no small part because they don’t like parties, major or minor. And they don’t like partisanship. Some minor parties without the pressures of “big tent” coalitions, have become even more calcified and rigidly ideological than the major parties. And while minor parties’ share of the electorate is shrinking, that of independents is growing. In California, the percent of the electorate enrolled in minor parties fell from 5.2 percent in 2001 to 4.4 percent in 2009. The percent registered independent grew from 14.4 percent to 20 percent.

“Top-two” is an important step towards non-partisan governance. It does away with party primaries altogether.  If the Proposition 14 initiative passes, all voters vote in a first round in which all candidates are listed on the ballot with their party preference next to their name, and the top two go on to the general election which is also open to all voters. Voters will be voting for candidates, not parties, and there is a real opportunity for building coalitions of independents and party members in support of reform-oriented candidates who place the interests of their state and country before that of any party. For those concerned with party building – major or minor – having effective spokespersons in the first round will help parties enlarge their base.

A key issue for independents is full participation in every phase of the electoral process. Top-two is a way to achieve that. Under the current system in California, each party holds its own primary election, and only members of that party have a right to participate. That means that 3,466,855 registered voters in California are not guaranteed the right to participate because they have elected not to register into a political party. They can only vote when a party allows them in its primary. They are not guaranteed a say in who appears on the general election ballot. Passage of Proposition 14 will give all voters the right to participate in every phase of the electoral process.

In 1996 the State of California had adopted by referendum an open primary system in which each party, major and minor, had its candidate on the general election ballot. However, the minor parties joined with the Democrats and Republicans in a lawsuit, Democratic Party, et al. v. Jones, 530 U.S. 567 (2000), which invalidated that system on the claim by the parties that it permitted people who were not members of a party to vote in its primary. Passage of Proposition 14 will achieve full participation by the means that are legally available. The State of Washington’s top-two system, on which Proposition 14 is modeled, was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Wash. State Grange v. Wash. State Republican Party, 128 S.Ct. 1184 (2008).

Third parties do, of course, provide voters with more choice. Proposition 14 will not deny them that. Candidates of all parties will be on the ballot in round one. American voters, pragmatists that they are, are more likely to express support for a third party candidate in the first round, where the outcome does not send the winner to Washington or Sacramento. As things stand now, while the minor parties are assured a place on the ballot in the general election, they remain largely marginalized by the small percentage of the vote they receive.

As Richard notes, third parties have been unable to gain access to the presidential debates or obtain significant coverage for their candidates. This is so despite their having a place on the general election ballot in California and most states. Improvements in this regard will surely not come from maintaining the status quo. Top-two shakes up the existing partisan arrangements. It is a system under which voters focus more on candidates than parties. And it will bring with it new arguments for media coverage and debate inclusion, just as it will bring new opportunities for voter- driven electoral coalitions that can impact on the political mainstream.

Harry Kresky
website: harrykreskylaw.com


Harry Kresky is counsel to IndependentVoting.org, and the City organizations of the New York Independence Party. In 2002 he was appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to serve on New York City's Charter Revision Commission and is representing independent voters in a precedent-setting case defending open primaries in Idaho. 

Want to Fix Broken Government? Independents Say Structural Political Reform

Everyone wants to know what independents want. The short answer is structural political reform. Some of this weeks top stories below:

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• CNN's Don Lemon with Independents Omar Ali, Joe Gandelman and Nicole Kurokawa on Broken Government VIDEO on The Hankster and The Moderate Voice and link on Independent Political Report
• Bennet waits on reform stance - The Colorado senator wants to see how today's summit goes. (By PETER ROPER, THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN) LIVE-STREAM FROM HEALTH CARE SUMMIT ON CNN HERE
• Outsider Image So Hot Even Ex-Insiders Want It (By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, NY Times)
• Rossi paying attention to short-attention-span voters (By Joni Balter, Seattle Times) Watch this movement twist and turn. When an Asotin County Tea Party-ite called for Murray to be hung, that shameful outburst had potential to be transformative. Independent voters do not want to be pals with anyone who talks like that!

CALIFORNIA PROP 14 "TOP TWO" OPEN PRIMARY

• MAJORITY OF CALIFORNIA VOTERS FEEL OPEN PRIMARY IS AN IMPORTANT REFORM OPTION (by Ryan Jaroncyk, CAIVN)
• OPEN PRIMARY INITIATIVE (CAIVN)
• Why Independents are Better Off With More Than Two Choices on the November Ballot (By Richard Winger, The Hankster) NOTE: This oped is a result of conversations between The Hankster and the noted ballot access expert Richard Winger. The Hankster SUPPORTS open primaries and Prop 14, but has decided to provide a forum for other opinions by independents and minor party spokespeople on this important California referendum.
• Will Prop. 14 kill third parties? (By JOHN SEILER, Cal Watchdog)
• Voters Undecided On Solutions To California’s Economic Problems (By Raul Furlong, Fox and Hounds Daily)
• California Ballot Pamphlet Arguments on Propositions Now On-Line (Ballot Access News)

FAIR ELECTIONS NOW ACT

• Paul Silver (Austin Centrist) recommends that independents get behind the "bipartisan" Fair Elections Now bill. The Fair Elections Now Act (S. 752 and H.R. 1826) was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and in the House of Representatives by Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.) and Walter Jones, Jr. (R-N.C.). The bill would allow federal candidates to choose to run for office without relying on large contributions, big money bundlers, or donations from lobbyists, and would be freed from the constant fundraising in order to focus on what people in their communities want. SEE ALSO: Last week's cover story for The Nation by Change Congress's Lawrence Lessig "How to Get Our Democracy Back"...

REDISTRICTING

• Do Gerrymanders Come in Shades of Red and Blue? (By: Emily Badger, Miller-McCune)

COLORADO

• Panel OKs unaffiliated candidate bill (by Joe Hanel, Durango Herald Denver Bureau)
• Unaffiliated lawmaker wants to change Colo. ballot rules - Rep. Kathleen Curry, a rancher from Gunnison, wants to make it easier for other independent candidates to get on the ballot (COLLEEN SLEVIN, Vail Daily)
• Curry teams with Riddle in lawsuit-Neither unaffiliate can get on ballot (by Joe Hanel, Durango Herald Denver Bureau)

PENNSYLVANIA

• Term limits a start to reforming county government (PAUL GOLIAS, Citizens Voice Wilkes Barre PA)

RHODE ISLAND

• Brown poll: Chafee easily wins governor’s race (By JIM TARICANI, Channel 10 Providence)

Why Independents are Better Off With More Than Two Choices on the November Ballot

By Richard Winger

Thanks to Nancy Hanks for giving me a one-time shot to explain why I oppose California's Proposition 14, the "top-two open primary."

The United States desperately needs political leaders who are committed to new ideas for solving our problems, and who are more interested in advancing those new ideas than they are to just advancing their own personal political career. We need someone, or an entire group, to run for office on a platform that explains why, in their opinion, a single-payer system is the answer to health care. We need someone, or an entire group, to run for office on a platform that make its best case for why the United States faces financial ruin if it doesn't sharply cut back on spending on war. We need someone, or an entire group, to run for office on a platform to make the case that marijuana prohibition must stop. We need someone, or an entire group, to run for office while making their best case for altering the dominance of the Federal Reserve in our banking system.

In democratic countries all over the world, when a leader, or a group, is determined to persuade society that it's time for a particular change in social policy, the traditional way to do that is to form a political party committed to that idea. The party's candidates then campaign to persuade people that their particular idea is a good one. Parties are the means by which ordinary people can organize, come together, and work for particular changes.

Unfortunately, in the United States, the ability of people to organize into a new political party and take their case to the voters has been trampled upon. Exclusion into the presidential debates, restrictive ballot access laws, and discriminatory campaign finance laws have all severely injured this road to social progress. But, significant progress against discriminatory campaign finance laws and restrictive ballot access laws is being made. A federal court in Connecticut recently ruled that public funding of campaigns must not discriminate against independent candidates. Ballot access for independent candidates for president is substantially easier than it was in the 1960's and 1970's. We haven't made any headway yet against the locked-down presidential debates, but that doesn't mean we never will.

Proposition 14, the "top-two open primary", has already been tried in two states, Washington (in 2008) and Louisiana (used for Congress 1978-2006, and state office ever since 1975). We know what happens in that system. In Washington, in 2008, for the first time since Washington became a state, there were no independent or minor party candidates on the November ballot for Congress and statewide state office. In Louisiana, no minor party member has ever qualified for the second round. That is why independents, or independent-minded people, who have been elected to important office, such as Ron Paul, Lowell Weicker, Jesse Ventura, and John Anderson, are opposed to a system that leaves just two candidates on the November ballot. New parties, representing movements, can't get a foothold in a system that allows only two candidates on the November ballot.

I believe that it is very desirable that independents be allowed to vote in major party primaries. My opposition to Proposition 14 is not because I am opposed to letting independents vote in major party primaries.

Richard Winger is a leading ballot access expert and is founder and editor of Ballot Access News.

CNN's Don Lemon with Independents Omar Ali, Joe Gandelman and Nicole Kurokawa on Broken Government

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"How to Talk, a Revolutionary Conversation with Fred Newman" NYC, March 28

As the independent movement grows, it's important that we get better at talking with one another. The Hankster highly recommends the upcoming workshop offered by my long-time colleague and political mentor Fred Newman. Please join me on March 28 in New York City.


How to Talk

A revolutionary conversation with Fred Newman.

Fred Newman — who co-hosts the weekly online political dialogue Talk Talk — presents what he’s learned over 40 years as a therapist, teacher, playwright, director and community organizer about the art of talking with people.

In this age of endless chatter — speculation, prediction, opining and Monday-morning quarterbacking — can talk be redeemed as a creative force? How do we talk to get closer to people? Create community? Develop the world? Take a philosophical/political journey with the founder of social therapy as he shares his approach to creating good conversation.

A Stanford-trained philosopher, Newman has long been concerned to liberate the study of philosophy (and philosophical dialogue) from the confines of academia and to make it useful and accessible for ordinary people in everyday conversation and everyday life.

Sunday, March 28, 2:30 to 4:00 p.m.
$50 ($25 youth/unemployed)
New York University School of Law
40 Washington Square South
(between MacDougal and Sullivan)
Classroom 210

To register call Melissa Meyer at
212.941.8906, ext 304 or email
mmeyer@eastsideinstitute.org.
To register online, go to
www.eastsideinstitute.org


Click here 

Attention Queens NY Independents!

Hey Queens NYC Hanksteristas. I need a small favor. One of my Queens independent colleagues Bryan Puertas has just started a MeetUp group for independent voters. 


The more members it has, the more likely people are to join. Could you check it out and join if you like it? And tell your friends? Even if you don't live in Queens, it's still ok. This is the only goup of it's kind in NYC on the site.


http://www.meetup.com/Queens-Independent-Voters/


Thanks! -NH

upright for now

Independents and Washington's Magic Show, NYC Charter Revision and Nonpartisan Elections, California Prop 14

If you haven't yet read Jackie Salit's Independents See Through Washington's Magic Show, here's a link to Chicago online SWNewsHerald, and keeping up with CNN's Broken Government series, transcript of Don Lemon's panel last Sunday on TMV.... And in the area of election reform, Liz Benjamin of the NY Daily News linked Harry Kresky's Hankster piece "Bloomberg Charter Revision Commission Should Address Nonpartisan Elections", while the discussion of Prop 14 continues. Speaking of Prop 14, Richard Winger will write a guest post for The Hankster later this week delineating his position on Prop 14 and open primaries.


INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independents See Through Washington’s Magic Show (By JACKIE SALIT, Southwest News Herald - Chicago) Odds And Ends (Elizabeth Benjamin, Daily News Daily Politics) Salit: Obama needs to perform real magic (links to yesterday's Vacaville CA Reporter)
• Independents And Obama: A Closer Look (Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic)
• Independent Voters and “Broken Government” (POSTED BY JOE GANDELMAN, The Moderate Voice) Full transcript of CNN Don Lemon Sunday piece

NONPARTISAN ELECTIONS

• Harry Kresky: Bloomberg Charter Revision Commission Should Address Nonpartisan Elections (by Harry Kresky, The Hankster) linked to News Of The Day (Elizabeth Benjamin, Daily News/Daily Politics) City Independence Party attorney Harry Kresky wants the Charter Revision Commission to focus on nonpartisan elections.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Would Proposition 14 limit choices? Only false ones (Redding.com/The Record Searchlight - Northern CA Shasta County)
• Challenges scramble ambitions of two candidates (By DOROTHY SCHNEIDER, Journal & Courier - Indiana) Norman Klinker of Lafayette goes back and forth between party tickets in the primary to “vote for who I think is best.” And he agrees with McCloud that the candidates should be able to run with whichever party they choose.

Harry Kresky: Bloomberg Charter Revision Commission Should Address Nonpartisan Elections

The Hankster invited NYC attorney Harry Kresky to comment on the recent Citizens Union forum on the impending Charter Revision Commission.


With Mayor Bloomberg’s appointment of a new Charter Revision Commission imminent, good government types and others are focusing on what the agenda for a Commission should be. At a forum jointly sponsored by Baruch College and the Citizens Union on February 9th, the panel addressed such issues as strengthening the City Council, the Public Advocate and the Borough Presidents, and, of course, restoring a two term limit to elected officials.  Baruch Professor Doug Muzzio presided over the panel which included Hofstra Law Professor Eric Lane, Former Comptroller William Thompson, Columbia Professor Esther Fuchs and Richmond County Clerk, Stephen J. Fiala.
      Their presentations made no mention of non partisan municipal elections, an issue that was put to a referendum by the 2003 Charter Revision Commission and went down to a 3:1 defeat. Much has changed since then. Independents have grown and were the decisive factor in the recent round of federal, state and local elections. 150,000 of them voted on the Independence Party line to re-elect Michael Bloomberg as New York’s first independent Mayor. More than 40 percent of Americans now self-identify as independent. In New York City there are 758,997 voters who are not enrolled in any party. They are of course, barred from New York’s closed primary system. And in races for local office like City Council Member and Borough President, to be barred from the Democratic Party primary means to be be barred from the election that counts in all but a handful of competitive districts. There are some 1,405,636 voters who are not enrolled Democrats and cannot vote in that primary.
      When the floor was open for questions, I asked the panel where they stood on the Commission again taking up the issue of non partisan elections. I asked how they can expect voters to consider giving more power to the highly partisan (and too often corrupt) City Council without changing how it is elected to a non partisan system. The panel did not address the issue directly. Muzzio said it couldn’t pass, look how badly it went down in 2003. Fiala said it was a good reform and he was open to revisiting it. Surely, New Yorkers are as fed up with partisanship as other Americans, and the Charter Commission process provides them with a chance to do something about it.
Harry Kresky
harrykreskylaw.com 


Harry Kresky is counsel to IndependentVoting.org, and the City organizations of the New York Independence Party. In 2002 he was appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to serve on New York City's Charter Revision Commission and is representing independent voters in a precedent-setting case defending open primaries in Idaho. 

Independent Voters: Yes, Government is Broken. Now What?

Independents have had a busy week! CNN appears to be developing an independent track with the Don Lemon independent panel of Dr. Omar Ali, Joe Gandelman and Nicole Kurokawa --- looking forward to tonight's broadcast Sunday (6:20-6:40), February 21st, to discuss "Broken Government" from an independents' perspective ... Wish I could easily find a link but you might have to Go Fish....


And then there's the OpEds by Jackie Salit, a leading independent activist-analyst in the Christian Science Monitor "Tea Party Activists: Don't Confuse Them With Independents" and Huffington Post "Independents See Through Washington's Magic Show" about the independent movement relative to both Barack Obama's base of support and Tea Party Republicans...


A critical issue for independents this year is: Will we or won't we be invited to the party? (HINT: Don't hold your breath! Most independents don't like parties, partisanship and the rules that come with them.) Open primaries is on the political reform agenda in no less than 8 states, with nonpartisan independent activists on the ground challenging and chipping away at discriminatory legislation and party rules that prevent independent voters from participating, AND not an insignificant point, prevent innovation in our dysfunctional democracy. 

• Be sure to read up on the fight in California over Prop 14, the so-called "Top Two" Primary referendum. The fight boils down to whether the parties or the people have the legal right to determine our voting process. Unfortunately, IMnsHO (In My not so Humble Opinion) Richard Winger, the country's premier ballot access expert, opposes open primaries because minor parties (he speaks for the Libertarian Party) would have to run against the 'big guys' in the first round of voting. Richard is not alone -- Bob Cuddy writes (presumably) from a Libertarian Party perspective, and Michael Rosen, attorney in Carmel Valley and the secretary of the San Diego County Republican Party. 

And finally, is the Tea Party independent? Well, no. But they might well pull the Repubs more to the right...


INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independents See Through Washington's Magic Show (Jackie Salit, Huffington Post)
• Iowa's independent voters turning away from Obama (THOMAS BEAUMONT, Des Moines Register)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• California Bill to Let Precinct Officials Tell Independent Voters They May Vote in Partisan Primaries is Still Active (Ballot Access News)
• Christina Tobin to Formally Announce Candidacy for California Secretary of State (Independent Political Report) She's against open primaries  NOTE: Richard Winger is her campaign manager
• Former Democratic and Republican Governors Demand that Independents Join the Democratic or Republican Parties (Independent Political Report)
• FORMER GOVERNOR: CHOOSE A POLITICAL PARTY OR LEAVE THE COUNTRY (by Chad Peace, CAIVN)
• ‘Open’ plan closes out third parties (By Bob Cuddy, San Luis Obispo Tribune) 
• “Open Primary” measure is anything but (BY MICHAEL M. ROSEN, San Diego News Room)

TEA PARTY/CBS News/New York Times Poll

• Time Garbles Poll Numbers to Puff Tea Party Popularity (Peter Hart, FAIR blog)

Lenora Fulani, Sara Palin, Jackie Salit, Conservatives, Republicans and Independents -- and Shaun White and Michael Lewis...

and the beat goes on....

Hi to all you Hanksteristas!

If you haven't yet read Jackie Salit's oped in the Christian Science Monitor on Tuesday called "Tea Party Activists: Don't confuse them with independents"..... Well, hey -- time's a'wastin'! Really -- read it -- Hit it here...

AND: The 2010 INDIE AWARD goes to Michael Lewis, founder of Independent Kentucky! Congrats, Michael! Keep up the great grassroots independent work!

Lots more below about the California Top Two Open Primary, (the Libertarians and the Northern Calif ACLU Board of Directors don't support....) and the ever-controversial NYC Independence Party (led by Lenora Fulani)....

Uh-oh! I must be watching too much TMZ! (Harvey Levin's a lawyer, ya know!!)

Or was it the Winter Olympics -- Shaun White's SPECTACULAR  run?... or preparation for the Red Carpet on Oscars' Night? Yikes!

This is The Hankster signing off, or on, or well, whatever....

Have a wonderful independent day -- snowboarding wherever you are!

See ya' soon!
NH

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Tea party activists: Don't confuse them with independents - Tea partyers are are disgruntled social conservatives aiming to take control of the Republican Party. Independents are the antiparty force, trying to restructure the partisan political system.  (By Jackie Salit, Christian Science Monitor)
• CNN's Don Lemon Speaks to Independents on Drop in Approval for President Obama (The Hankster) WITH VIDEO
• Palin Nixes Third Party Idea (POSTED BY JOE GANDELMAN, The Moderate Voice)
• Evan Bayh Packs It In (Will Marshall, Huffington Post)
• INDEPENDENTS SCORE INITIAL VICTORY FOR MORE OPEN PRIMARIES IN KENTUCKY (by Ryan Jaroncyk, CAIVN)
• John Podesta says America's political system 'sucks' (Michael Bearak, Digital Journal)
• Most Americans Oppose Campaign Financing Decision, Poll Shows (By Kate Andersen Brower, Business Week) Eighty-one percent of the independent voters polled said they opposed the ruling.
• Gradual reforms of U.S. can rebuild trust (David Brooks, Detroit News) The country has reacted harshly to the course the administration ended up embracing. Obama is still admired personally, but every major proposal -- from the stimulus to health care -- is quite unpopular. Independent voters have swung against the administration. Voters are not reacting to the particulars of each bill. They are reacting against the total activist onslaught.
• Rhode Island Moderate Party announces state slate (By JIM BARON, Pawtucket Times)
• 'Palm-gate' proves centrists' Palin doubts (By John Avlon, Special to CNN)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• California’s Case For Worst (POSTED BY JERRY REMMERS, The Moderate Voice)
• Jon Coupal: `Open primary' system is made to open your wallet (By Jon Coupal, Daily News Los Angeles)
• EVAN BAYH: GOOD-BYE CONGRESS AND YOUR PARTISAN POLITICS (by Steve Peace, CAIVN)
• Closed Primaries in SC? (Public Policy Polling blog)
• We shouldn't have to declare party to vote (Letter to the Editor, CHICAGO Daily Herald)
• Cohen should have been allowed to run (Letter to the Editor, Chgo Daily Herald)
• Tim Russert, Politics and Credible Journalism (Michael Ciric, Chicago Now) [NOTE: Not sure who Tim Russert is)
• ACLU of Northern California Opposes “Top-Two Open Primary” (Ballot Access News)
• Editorial: Other reforms to consider (Austin TX Democrat Herald)
• A triple whammy for California voters--In a short time, a bid for a constitutional convention falters, Assembly Democrats return to partisanship and redistricting comes under attack. (Editorial, LA Times)

NEW YORK

• Former Jet Faulkner Hoping To Blitz Rangel In General Election (By Selena Ross, City Hall News)
• Gillibrand: 'Last Night Wasn't About Harold Ford' (BY ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Daily News/Daily Politics)
• HaFo Blows Off Reporters To Grip And Grin With Extremist (By Kleinheider, Politics/Nashville post)

SOUTH CAROLINA

• First District Independent candidate explains run (by MICHAEL BROWN, South Carolina Radio Network)

Salit: Tea party activists: Don't confuse them with independents

Hey, don't get caught with your pants down around independents if you're going to the tea party...

Great article by Jackie Salit in today's Christian Science Monitor "Tea Party activists: Don't confuse them with independents."

Contrary to some of the spin, the tea party movement is not part of the independent movement. Anyone playing the political game, from the president, to the politicians, to the pollsters, confuses them at their peril.  

Salit, current president of IndependentVoting.org and a veteran of the 80s and 90s national battleground skirmishes to establish a viable independent third party -- and who has since led her minions-turned-tens-of-thousands into a "parties? no thank you!" broad-based non-ideological anti-party pro-independent movement for political reform, goes on to say in this article:

Bursting onto the scene in 1992 with an outpouring for Ross Perot, the independent movement began as largely white, leaning center-right. While the movement was quintessentially anti-establishment, left-liberals wrote it off as hopelessly right-wing.

But a network of unorthodox independent leftists with a base in the black, Latino, gay, and progressive communities, reached out to forge a populist coalition with the Perotistas. Appealing to the need to bring all Americans together against a self-dealing, corrupt two-party arrangement, a new coalition took root inside the Perot movement, which led to the creation of the national Reform Party. 

 Read on!

CNN's Don Lemon Speaks to Independents on Drop in Approval for President Obama

Nicole Kurokawa (Cato Institute), Dr. Omar Ali (professor at Towson University and contributor to IndependentVoting.org) and Joe Gandelman (The Moderate Voice) on Obama's positioning relative to independent voters.

If you're in New York, be sure to catch Dr. Ali at Interviews by a Black Independent hosted by Dr. Lenora Fulani on Friday, February 19th at 6pm, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, Harlem (163 West 125th Street, 2nd Floor) RSVP to 212-962-1699

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 2/15/2010

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• And, now, a word from independents (By Jackie Salit, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• Both parties should heed warnings in poll results (By David S. Broder, Washington Post)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• OPEN PRIMARY IS NOT A PANACEA FOR PARTISANSHIP (by Mytheos Holt, CA Independent Voter Network)

ILLINOIS

• Hey voters, it's time to fight back (BY PHIL KADNER, Southtown Star) There's a citizens movement under way to change the way that congressional and state legislative districts are drawn in Illinois. It's called the Illinois Fair Map Amendment campaign.  NOTE: Illinois Fair Map http://www.ilfairmap.com/ is a good government group

MASSACHUSETTS

• Cahill charts a different course (By Eric Moskowitz, Boston Globe) "This race, and people's perceptions of me and this campaign, has changed dramatically since Jan. 19," Cahill told reporters. "Where Scott Brown was defining himself as an independent Republican, I'm an independent independe
• A political lone wolf (By Adrian Walker, Boston Globe)

TEA PARTY

• Tea partiers pull back from alliance with S.C. GOP (By: Andy Barr, Politico)

workers and an army

Winter Cold, Independent Voters Turn Up the Heat

Weekend reading for independent voters:

• LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Independent voters should unite, be heard (Peter Chura, Las Vegas Sun)
• What’s Next, Mr. President? (By DAVID BROOKS, NY Times)
• Iowa Poll: More Iowans cut across party lines, lean toward 'progressive' (BY THOMAS BEAUMONT, Des Moines Register) hemselves as moderate than conservative and liberal combined, and nearly half say they're part of the state's growing pool of independent voters.
• Q&A: Braley says progressives must ’speak truth to fear’ - Democrats need sense of urgency about making sure their voices are heard (By LYNDA WADDINGTON, Iowa Independent)
• The evolving general electorate (Atlanta Political Buzz Examiner, Michael Francis) What may be a more foreboding portent for Democrats, though, is the recent small shift by so-called independent voters. 
• Zugzwang: Democrats’ 2010 Dilemma - Curbed enthusiasm. (BY GARY ANDRES, Weekly Standard) So should Democrats and President Obama pursue an activist agenda and please the party base, or pull back the throttle and play small ball to attract independents?  They can’t do both.  Welcome to Zugzwang. One reaction is paralysis – a little bit of this, a little bit of that.  It feels like movement, but to the outside world, it looks like you’re stuck. [FROM Wm Saffire: ''You have used a word,'' replied the grandmaster, ''for a position in which each player would obtain a worse result if it were his turn to move than if it were not. It occurs only in endgame situations or in composed problems.'']
• GOP numbers drop in new report (By JIM MILLER, Press Enterprise/Sacramento Bureau)
• Poor little rich girl (By Richard Mays/Heber Springs AR Sun Times) In a hypothetical race between [Blanche] Lincoln and Republican U.S. Representative John Boozman, the poll shows Boozman winning (at least at this moment in time) by a margin of 56 percent to 33 percent. Among independent voters – of whom there are an increasing number in this age of discontent with both major political parties – the margin was an even larger 66 percent to 20 percent.
• Obama's bipartisan play comes as independents turn their backs (By: Heather Hunt, Special to The Examiner) President Obama's new embrace of bipartisanship may be an effort to help end the crash in support for his administration among independent voters.
• Politics A to Z: Bipartisanship, Blizzard Edition (By ADAM NAGOURNEY AND JEFF ZELENY, NY Times/The Caucus) EXCERPT
• Obama Can't Change Crazy Voters--Or Crazy Politicians (By Robert Schlesinger, US NewS & World Report)
• Republicans May Benefit From Discontent, Poll Shows (Adds Charlie Cook remarks in the fourth, eighth and ninth paragraphs.) (By Kate Andersen Brower, Business Week)

nor'easter becoming night

New York Independence Party: City vs State -- Do We Need Nonpartisan Elections?

Topics of concern: Mike Bloomberg made a contribution to the NY State Independence Party via State Chair Frank MacKay possibly earmarked for the Repubs in Queens, and well, seems to be quite a mess... And a NYC Charter Revision Commission might consider nonpartisan elections for Dem-controlled NYC.

NEW YORK BLOOMBERG/INDEPENDENCE PARTY

• Vance Investigating Indy/Bloomberg/Haggerty Connection (BY ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Daily News/Daily Politics)
• DA's Office Investigates Mayor Michael Bloomberg's $750K Campaign Donation (DA Info)
• Manhattan DA probing Bloomberg election cash: sources (By DAVID SEIFMAN, NY Post)
• THE MIDTERMS: PATERSON'S PRESSER (by Domenico Montanaro, msnbc/First Read) see BLOOMBERG $$ TO IP INVESTIGATION
• DA probes Mike's 'slippery' poll $$ (By DAVID SEIFMAN City Hall Bureau Chief, NY Post)
• How G.O.P. Worker Got Bloomberg Money Is Investigated (By JOHN ELIGON, NY Times)
• Manhattan DA Investigates Bloomberg Donation (By: NY1 News) WITH VIDEO
• DA Investigates Mysterious $750,000 Bloomberg Donation (Gothamist)

NEW YORK CHARTER REVISION

• City University Chancellor Matthew Goldstein favorite to chair charter revision commission (BY ADAM LISBERG, DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF)
• Bloomberg Picks Crowell To Chair Charter Commission, Full Membership To Be Announced Within Weeks - In addition to term limits, non-partisan elections may be revisited (By Edward-Isaac Dovere, City Hall News)
• Thompson In The Mix (BY ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Daily News/Daly Politics)

Democracy Report: Open Primaires, Independent Candidates, Petty Partisan Squabbles

OPEN PRIMARIES

• R.I. Republicans battle over inclusiveness of primary elections (By Steve Peoples and Katherine Gregg, Providence Journal State House Bureau)
• Call For Fair And Open Primaries In Bucks County (LETTER The Philadelphia Bulletin)

MASSACHUSETTS

• Democrats unhappy with Jill Stein over governor candidacy (Boston Progressive Examiner, Michael Richardson)

CALIFORNIA

• California Assembly panel approves Maldonado's nomination -- after grilling (By Susan Ferriss, Sac Bee)
• As We See It: Maldonado squabble a symbol of petty politics (Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Who Owns the Non-Partisan Independent Label?

And who needs a label?


TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES on INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Poll: Majority want work to continue on health care reform bill (CNN Political Ticker) The survey indicates that 56 percent of independent voters say congressional Republicans aren't doing enough to try and work with the president and Democrats in Congress. Half of independents see the president as too unwilling to compromise and 28 percent feel both parties are not doing enough when it comes to bipartisanship.
• Poll Shows Voters Abandoning Prez in Droves; Bam Gets Real Kick Indy Ass (iStock Analyst) NOTE: "Kick Indy Ass"?? Whaa? Apparently NY Post writer Geoff Earle wrote that headline for the Post but it didn't get printed, wonder why... Has Mr. Earle ever spoken to a kick-ass indy? Just askin...
• PARTY SOCIOLOGY: SPURIOUS LEADERS + FURIOUS FOLLOWERS = POWER REDISTRIBUTION (By: David McCleary, The Cypress Times - TX) America’s previous answer to the troublesome aspects of the dual party political system has been the non-partisan “Independent” label. Independent voters often swing elections and encourage less polarizing, govern-from-the-center political leadership. The Tea Party’s recent rapid growth tells us that catering to the Independents and appearing to lead from the center is not enough.
• Guest Column: And now, a word from the independents (By Jackie Salit, Rock River Times - Rockford IL)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• R.I. Republicans battle over inclusiveness of primary elections (By Steve Peoples and Katherine Gregg, Providence Journal State House Bureau)
• Call For Fair And Open Primaries In Bucks County (LETTER The Philadelphia Bulletin)

MASSACHUSETTS

• Democrats unhappy with Jill Stein over governor candidacy (Boston Progressive Examiner, Michael Richardson)

CALIFORNIA

• California Assembly panel approves Maldonado's nomination -- after grilling (By Susan Ferriss, Sac Bee)
• As We See It: Maldonado squabble a symbol of petty politics (Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Parties on the Left, Movements on the Right: What's an Independent to DO?

Is the Tea Party a party or a movement or just a funding arm of right-wing Republicans? Is the Working Families Party independent or just an appendage of the NYC Democratic Party well-oiled but failing political machinery? And what's the difference between the New York City Organizations of the Independence Party and the State Independence Party of New York? Study up -- if you're independent, you need to know!


TEA PARTY

• Where Is ''tea Party'' Heading? Leaves Are Unclear (NY Times)
• Tea Party Nation: Of Palin, Progressives, New Deal, and party politics (LA Conservative Examiner, Edmund Jenks)

WORKING FAMILIES PARTY

• Bertha Lewis Departs From WFP, Perjury Charges Possible Against Rose Treasurer In Staten Island Case (By Edward-Isaac Dovere, City Hall News)
• Working Families Party will use its power to stir things up (BY DAN CANTOR, Daily News)

NEW YORK INDEPENDENCE PARTY (NYC and State)

• Independence Party big promises change after 'secret deal' with Mike (David Seifman, Inside City Hall, NY Post)
• Political Action: GOP could come back in 2010 Queens races (By William Lewis, Your Nabe Queens) Honigsfeld also referred to the three Queens Republicans who were elected to the City Council in November. They all had Independence Party endorsements, which contributed to their election success. She said, “We are dedicated to the restructuring of the political system. Independents do not want partisan politics.”

Former Kentucky Gov to Independents: Drop Dead!

The fight for inclusion of independent voters in primaries continues to escalate across the country:

In Kentucky, where a bill for open primaries is introduced into the State House by Rep. Jimmy Higdon, newly elected by independents led by local activist Michael Lewis (you won't want to miss Michael's interaction captured on CNN with Dick Mattingly with State Sen. Julian "Love It Or Leave It" Carroll)...

In California, a referendum to make the first round of voting (primaries) open to all candidates and all voters (called "Top Two" and based on a similar system in Washington state) is supported by independents and popular at the grassroots level, but opposed by the official parties -- including minor parties and their spokespeople like Libertarian Party member Richard Winger. Personally I think Winger, who is the country's leading expert and a staunch proponent of fair ballot access for independent and third party candidates, is on the wrong side of this issue. To keep up on pro-open primary news, see OpenPrimaries.org



NEWS HEADLINES FOR OPEN PRIMARIES


CALIFORNIA

• RISING NUMBER OF INDEPENDENTS COULD BE GOOD NEWS FOR OPEN PRIMARY (by Ryan Jaroncyk, California Independent Voter Network, from the website, CAIVP, a non-profit C4 organization dedicated to the independent-minded voter regardless of their political party affiliation or preference. CAIVP was founded in 2006 as an effort to engage non-partisan voters in California’s policymaking process. CAIVP has focused on ensuring that non-partisan – Decline-to-State (DTS)
• Ballot measures to the rescue-Two proposed initiatives would go a long way toward restoring the Golden State. (By Steve Westly and Fred Keeley, LA Times)
• Proposition 14: Campaign for open primaries rolls out of the gate (By Kurtis Alexander, Santa Cruz Sentinel)
• Maldonado’s election reform proposal deeply flawed (By Richard Winger, Napa Valley Register)

NEW YORK

• Why We Need Non-Partisan Elections (Our Town (Upper East Side community newspaper)

RHODE ISLAND

• Rhode Island State Senator To Introduce Bill Outlawing Closed Primaries (Ballot Access News)

KENTUCKY

• Independence for Independents (Louisville Mojo) The Kentucky State Senate voted this week to allow independent voters to participate in the Commonwealth's previously closed primary elections. The measure was split along party lines, with the Republican majority voting in favor.
• Bloggers berate Sen. Carroll for losing cool on CNN (By Paul Glasser, The State Journal Frankfort KY)
• CNN: Independents ( like Michael Lewis) fight (politicians like Julian Carroll) to be heard! VIDEO Kentucky House approves bill allowing indies to vote in primary, bill moves to Senate.... STAY TUNED!

ILLINOIS

• Illinois needs open primaries (Letter to the Editor, Daily Herald Chicago)

Note to Parties: Sarah Palin Does Not Connect With Independent Voters

Sarah Palin doesn't connect with independent voters -- Don Lemon interviews Joe Gandelman of The Moderate Voice, Nicole Kurokawa of the Cato Institute, and Dr. Omar H. Ali, professor of history and the African Diaspora at Towson University. Video here and here. Dr. Ali says Tea Party is part of conservative, not independent movement...



NEWS HEADLINES FOR INDEPENDENT VOTERS:

• Jackie Salit: An independent speaks out (Enterprise, McComb Mississippi)
• Why Independent Voters Are Independent Voters: A Non-Role Model Senator (POSTED BY JOE GANDELMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF IN POLITICS, The Moderate Voice)
• 2/8: Obama Approval Rating Below 50% … Disapproval Among Majority of Independents (by Marist Poll)
• Independent voters overtake Democrats in Mohave County (By JIM SECKLER, Mohave Daily News)
• Obama on stage, beseeching independents (By John Brummett, Arkansas News)

Demand for Open Primaries Picks Up Steam

KENTUCKY

• Senate passes bill to allow independents to vote in primaries (By RONNIE ELLIS, McCreary County Record)
• Kentucky Senate Passes Bill to Require Parties to Let Independents Vote in their Primaries (Ballot Access News)
• Bill to open primaries to Independents passes KY Senate (By Elizabeth Donatelli, WAVE 3 Frankfurt)
•  NOTE: VIDEO includes interview of Michael Lewis
• Senate OKs Independent Voters In Primaries (Jessica Noll, KY Post) SB 53
• Ky. Senate Approves Open Primaries-Measure Expected To Die In Democratic House (WLWT Cincinnati)
• Senate Votes to Open KY Primaries to Independents (WBKO)
• Pushing for the Independent Vote (WTVQ ABC News 36 Lexington) Michael Lewis wants to overturn the state’s closed primary system...

ILLINOIS

• Tribal wins blunt democracy in Illinois feudal election (By Burt Constable | Daily Herald Columnist) "I understand the premise of primary elections - to determine a candidate for a party - but for independent voters such as myself, who frequently cross party lines during elections, we are effectively being discriminated against and not able to vote freely and fairly."
• Low voter turnout likely played role in election turmoil-Close races for Illinois governor nominees have yet to be decided (By JOHN SHARP AND KAREN McDONALD, Peoria Journal Star) "In my opinion, it will depend . . . on whether they are taking stances that will appeal to independents and some Democratic leaners," Hall said. "If (the Republican candidates) insist on a hard line, really conservative position, I think they make that prophecy harder to come to a realization."
• Our Opinion: Open primary would boost participation (THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER)
• Quinn declares victory but Hynes won't concede in Democratic governor's race (Chicago Tribune/Clout Street)

COLORADO

• Bill seeks easier path to ballot for independent candidates-Lawmaker who broke with Democratic Party says measure allows parties to set own deadlines (by Katie Burford, Durango Herald Staff Writer)
• Curry's re-election hopes tied to lawsuit in La Plata County (John Colson, Aspen Times)
• Colorado Bill to Legalize Fusion (Ballot Access News)

FLORIDA

• Maurice Ferre pushing poll results-2010 U.S. Senate race, Kendrick Meek, Maurice Ferre (jim stratton, Orlando Sentinel/Central Florida Political Pulse)

MASSACHUSETTS

• Mass. Republicans Eager To Follow In Brown’s Footsteps (By FRED THYS, WBUR NPR )

RHODE ISLAND

• Raptakis Proposes Ban on Closed Primaries (Chris Boardman, ABC 6) Raptakis said that no political party in the state should expect taxpayers to pay the bill for a party primary which shuts out 335,288 unaffiliated voters.

PENNSYLVANIA

• We, not party bosses, deserve the right to choose candidates (LETTER Allentown Morning Call)

New York State Independence Party Politics Makes for Strange Bank Accounts

The New York City Independence Party Organizations received $400,000 from Mike Bloomberg to run his independent campaign for Mayor, which pulled 150,000 votes on Column C, the IP ballot line. Another $1.2 mil went to the State Party, and of that $750,000 went to a company called Special Election Operations. "We have nothing to do with MacKay and Company and we're not the least bit surprised that what they're doing looks fishy, perhaps even corrupt," said Jacqueline Salit, a spokeswoman for the city party and a Bloomberg ally." Upstate IP State Chair Frank MacKay can't recall who or what that money went to... 

• Mike mystery money went to key elex aide (By DAVID SEIFMAN City Hall Bureau Chief, NY Post)
• Bloomberg used political party to pay backer: Post (By Howard Koplowitz, YourNabe Queens)
• 'Phantom' firm got $$ in re-elex (By FREDRIC U. DICKER in Albany and DAVID SEIFMAN in NY, EXCLUSIVE, NY Post)
• What did Hizzoner know? (NY Post)
• Ethics, Shmethics: The Culture of NY Politics--In Albany, even the watchdogs have ethics issues (By GABE PRESSMAN, NBC New York) And the question of where and how that 1.2 million that Bloomberg donated to the Independence Party was spent requires further investigation.
• Bloomberg's Independence (Pay)Day (BY ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Newsday) At the start of the six-month filing period, the [State] Independence Party was $15,156 in the red. Bloomberg's cash accounted for the bulk of the $1,205,600 it reported raising since then. It spent $863,236 and now has $327,206 on hand. The party spent $18,480 for "cars and drivers" on Election Day, according to its filing. And also sent $750,000 to an Albany-based firm called Special Election Operations LLC.
• N.Y. insurgents stand up for Wall St. (By: Ben Smith, Politico)
• Union officials are disturbingly inflexible toward charter schools (Washington Post Editorial)

Big Questions for Independents: Grassroots, Obama, Parties, and Technology

INDEPENDENT VOICES

• Just How Many Independent Voters Are There? (Tucson Citizen/Veteran Veritas)
• And Now, a Word From the Independents (Jackie Salit, Wilson County News TX)
• Analysis: Obama's dangerous political gambit (By JENNIFER LOVEN, Washington Post) That outsider, reformer image, while attractive particularly to all-important independent voters, is difficult for any politician to maintain once the messy obligations and barriers of governing take over. 
• Swinging with the ‘indies’ (Doris O’Brien/If I May Say So, Lompoc Record)
• Robert Rupp: Parties better recognize Independents (West Virginia Gazette)
• The Race is on to win over Independent Voters (POSTED BY JOE GANDELMAN, The Moderate Voice)
• California's independent streak--'Decline to State' voters here don't quite fit the national mold, but they do call most of the shots. (By George Skelton, Capitol Journal, LA Times)

OBAMA AND INDEPENDENTS

• Obama Continues Policy Outreach to Republicans (By CARL HULSE and JEFF ZELENY, NY Times) White House officials said the new approach could help repair Mr. Obama’s standing among independent voters, who catapulted him into the White House but have distanced themselves partly because of the messy legislative debate over health care.
• Commentary: Obama can make dramatic gesture as Independent (By Bob Montion, Visalia Times Delta) As an Independent, he would have no party affiliation keeping him from embracing any good idea.
• Budget Announcement Is Blueprint to Court Independents (By PETER WALLSTEN, Wall Street Journal)
• Who are the Independent Voters and How do they View the Obama Adminsitration? (VIDEO) (POSTED BY JOE GANDELMAN, The Moderate Voice)
• VIDEO: Independent Voters--Angry, Diverse, and Looking for Reform (President Obama, Are You Listening?) (The Hankster)
• Obama and Biden address independent voters in Tampa (BY BETH REINHARD, THE MIAMI HERALD)
• OPINION: Obama can win independents back (By JACQUELINE SALIT, Newsday) REQUIRES SUBSCRIPTION
• And now, a word from the Independents (By JACKIE SALIT, The Oregonian)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• No populism in the primaries? (Ben Smith, Politico)

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

• Let's take a fresh look at black history (By Eugene Kane, Journal Sentinel) Is Barack Obama the first black person to run for president? No, in the modern era, black politicians Shirley Chisholm, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Alan Keyes and Lenora Fulani have all run for U.S. president.

PROGRESSIVE PARTY

• Enough waiting. Let’s rebuild the Progressive Party of the United States. (By: Michael in Ohio, Firedonglake/Seminal)

TEA PARTY

• Fractures emerge as Tea Party convenes (By Kristi Keck, CNN) The anger over alleged fiscal irresponsibility in Washington was shared by a wider spectrum of voters, including independents, said John Avlon, author of "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America."
• A Tea Party incumbents won't enjoy (By Ed Rollins, CNN Senior Political Contributor)
• ABC video of Nashville Convention

LIBERTARIAN

• FAGIN: Libertarians: they're out there, they're growing, and they vote (By Barry Fagin, Colorado Springs Gazette)

EDUCATION

• Sorry for What? Team Obama apologizes for being right. (Wall Street Journal) After Katrina, test scores are up, charter schools proliferate and schools have improved to the point that Louisiana is a leading contender for Race to the Top education grants...

TECHNOLOGY

• POLL: Social Media Critical to 2010 Gubernatorial Race-iPhone users prefer Jerry Brown; Blackberry users prefer Meg Whitman (PRESS RELEASE, CALinnovates.org)
• The Personal Democracy Forum this year is titled "Can the Internet Fix Politics?" and will take place June 3-4 at the CUNY Graduate Center.