TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS: Is Open Primaries Coming to Your State?

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Arizonans should watch closely (The Arizona Republic) Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's outgoing Republican governor, readily acknowledged in a news conference that the goal is to reduce the power of political parties: "We wanted to have the politicians be public servants and not party servants." He touted open primaries as a way to keep politicians from getting "stuck in their ideological corners."
• In Our View: One More Top Two - Washington’s system for primary voting is starting to catch on elsewhere (The Columbian - WA)
• EDITORIAL: Watch this California experiment: State's move to an open primary might reveal what works, what doesn't (The Buffalo News, printed on Leagle.com) But it is a big step with a noble purpose. New York should watch and learn.
• House backs open primary elections for 2011 (Capitol News Bureau, Louisiana Politics Blog, By JORDAN BLUM, Advocate Capitol News Bureau)
• Alvin M. Greene’s Improbable Nomination For Senator From South Carolina (Posted by Rudi Stettner, IndyPosted.com) NOTE: trying to make a case against open primaries and for partisanship
• When a Party Seeks a Role in Primary of Another (By KIRK JOHNSON, NY Times)

PROP 14

• Take politics back from the extremes (By John P. Avlon, CNN) Proposition 14 passed with broad support despite the opposition of the two parties. The only two California counties where it didn't pass are symbols of polarization on opposite sides of the spectrum: conservative Orange County and liberal San Francisco.
• As California Counts More Votes, Proposition 14 Margin Drops (Ballot Access News) Now at 53.8%
• New math may rule Calif. politics (By: Emily Schultheis, Politico) Proponents of the new system — including California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — call it a victory for moderate, centrist candidates who appeal to a broader cross section of voters than do the narrow wings of the two parties. 
• Primary election sets up key races for November (By Ching Lee, California Farm Bureau Federation) “The open primary is another step in making state government more responsive,” [California Farm Bureau President Paul Wenger] said. “It will broaden opportunities to elect candidates who will consider all points of view and find compromise. We see the passage of Proposition 14 as a welcome sequel to the passage of Proposition 11 two years ago, which changed how legislative districts will be redrawn. Californians want more representative government, and these measures will help.”
• California Politics Update With Sacramento Political Consultant Leo McElroy (BY DWANE BROWN, PAMELA DAVIS, KPBS) MCELROY: Well, there’s been a lot of political concern. The minor political parties, like the major political parties, hated this idea. They did not want the primary opened to all voters. Historically, the minor parties in California, unlike the major parties, actually bar, “decline to state,” or “independent” voters, from voting in their primaries. They don’t want more members. They don’t want more people participating. The Republicans and Democrats do allow independents to vote in their primaries.
• Jerry Brown says Prop. 14 could break Sacramento gridlock (By Jack Chang, Fresno Bee)

GOVERNORS RACES

• Looking forward - beyond November (By: Gov. Jack Markell and Jim Kessler, Politico) Governors may have found the answer and are looking to reframe the 2010 midterms. They argue that the most important way to approach November is not as a left-right ideological argument or as an insider-vs.-outsider choice but, instead, to ask people to make a simple decision about our shared future: “Should we go forward with a plan or backward to the failed policies that launched this national recession?”

COLORADO

• Kathleen Curry, Colorado’s Only Independent Legislator, Opens Campaign Office and Submits Petition (Ballot Access News)

FLORIDA

• Surge of Independent Candidates In Florida - The number of independent candidates running for statewide office is soaring. So far 27 people have announced their intentions to run as an independent for Congress, state cabinet or the governor’s mansion. Just four years ago, only 11 people ran for statewide office with no party affiliation. (Whitney Ray, WJHG Channel 7)

NEW YORK

• Indictment Over Bloomberg Campaign Funds (By DAVID W. CHEN AND COLIN MOYNIHAN, for The New York Times/City Room)
• Political Operative Indicted for Stealing $1.1 Million From Mayor's Campaign (DNAInfo - Manhattan local news)
• Andrew Cuomo Takes "We'll See" Approach To Indy Party Probe (BY CELESTE KATZ, Daily News/Daily Politics)
• Indy voters cool to Cuomo, Dems (By BRENDAN SCOTT, NY Post)
• Adviser allegedly robbed mayor's coffers (UPI)

LAST WORD(S)

• The Democratic Party and Blanche Lincoln (BY GLENN GREENWALD, Salon) [T]he real conflict in politics is not Left v. Right or liberal v. conservative, but rather, insider v. outsider. 
• Democrats and the 'world domination' theory of politics (By: Scott Payne, Special to The Washington Examiner) NOTE: thinks independents don't exist