TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 6/18/10

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Poll: Obama Endorsement Poison for Candidates (By: Theodore Kettle, NewsMax) Also significant is the fact that 54 percent of those identifying themselves as “independent” or “other,” rather than Republican or Democrat, now view an Obama endorsement as a factor swaying them against voting for a candidate for office. Only 23 percent of such independent voters said his endorsement would make them more likely to support someone; the remaining 23 percent of independents said it didn’t matter or they didn’t know.
• The Democrats Strange New Civil War (Peter Connolly, Huffington Post) Barack Obama, an unabashed liberal from Chicago by way of Hawaii and New York, and an African American besides, won an astonishing 52.7% of the vote, carrying such improbable states as Indiana and Virginia. It is this victory, in which young and minority voters played a newly prominent role, which has evidently created such high expectations in the world of left liberalism that a Blanche Lincoln has somehow become unacceptable.
• Angry Voters Look for Change - Obama, incumbents face unhappy electorate as 2010 elections near (By Kenneth T. Walsh, US News & World Report) "The demand for ideological purity that the Tea Party has imposed on the Republican party," says Brad Woodhouse, communications director for the Democratic National Committee, "has radicalized otherwise mainstream candidates, has resulted in the nomination of candidates whose views will be offensive to moderate and independent voters who are key to success in general elections, and has resulted in Republican officeholders or establishment picks lurching to the right or being purged by the Tea Party." As examples, Woodhouse cites "the increasingly extreme positions" of Whitman and Fiorina.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Voters Approve “Top Two” Primary Reform In California -- Proposition 14 -- Will It Strengthen Or Hurt Democracy? (By Mike Bock, DaytonOS.com)
• Open-Primary Vote (Politics and Society)
• The Money That Fueled California's Election Revolt (By Christopher Palmeri and Michael Marois, Business Week)
• California, Louisiana now have open primaries in common: John Maginnis (NOLA.com) While re-adopting the open primary for all elections is causing little stir here, California's move has sent shock waves across the political landscape, rattling the furniture in the state and national headquarters of both major parties and the minor ones too.
• Bill Minor - Should we ditch the primary election (Y'all Politics) H/T to Steve Rankin at Free Citizen for this 
• Let’s learn from Gibbons’ mistakes (By Jen Huntley, Reno News Review) Oh yeah, and did I mention the part about the open primary?
• Votopihttp://www.pasadenaweekly.com/cms/story/detail/democracy_101/8901/a (Pasadena Weekly, Barry Gordon) In the absence of strong political parties, what’s left? MONEY.
• Montana GOP scraps presidential caucus (Great Falls Tribune) The caucus had been open only to party insiders. Set in February before most states had voted, it was meant to boost the Montana Republican Party’s national influence.
• Thomas D. Elias: Real initiative battles coming up (Colusa county Sun Herald) But when it comes to influencing the future lives of Californians, three measures either on or about to come onto the November ballot have far greater potential than anything on the primary election ballot. These propositions do not yet have numbers, but one is an effort to legalize marijuana, another would rescind the landmark 2006 anti-greenhouse gas law known as AB32 and the third is an $11 billion water bond.
• Montana GOP votes to ditch presidential caucuses (By MIKE DENNISON, Missoulian State Bureau)

GOV/ STATE/ MIDTERM RACES

• GA: Mary Norwood Needs 22,700 Signatures To Run For Office - Former Atlanta Mayoral Candidate Running As Independent (Rebekka Schramm - CBS Atlanta Reporter)
• VT: At least 9 file to run for governor in Vt. (By John Curran, Boston Globe) Also in the general election race are independent candidates Dennis Steele — who advocates Vermont’s secession from the union — and Em Payton, and United States Marijuana Party candidate Cris Ericson, of Chester.
• IA: Vander Plaats candidacy could doom GOP hopes of beating Culver (By JASON HANCOCK, Iowa Independent)
• NC: If Davis runs as an independent, he should be independent (Doug Clark, Greensboro News Record) Congratulations to Bruce Davis, who looks like he may qualify for a ballot spot as an independent candidate in the state Senate District 28 race. That's not easy to do in this D/R duopoly state.

NEW YORK

• Hey Albany: Pass A Budget & End The Poetic Torture AND California Voters Approve ‘Top Two’ Primary Elections By HENRY STERN [SCROLL DOWN] (Queens Tribune)
• Manhattan Madam Testifies Crooked Pols Should Lose Pensions (BY CELESTE KATZ, NY Daily News/Daily Politics) You can also see video here of Davis' testimony (she speaks around the 2-hour 18-minute mark). As one observer noted, "Frank Morano, who testifies after, brings the whole message home at the 2:20.55 mark, [saying it's] appropriate for [Davis] to testify because so many politicians are nothing more than prostitutes -- only they're not as honest."
• Slush Fund Scandal at the Charter Commission (Gotham Gazette)
• Does Cuomo's Favored AG Candidate Have Her Own Pedro Espada Problem? (By Wayne Barrett, Village Voice/Runnin Scared)
• Queens GOP Insider Stole From Mayor: DA (By DOMENICK RAFTER, Queens Tribune)
• Councilman Charles Barron's Freedom Party Bid For Governor (Gothamist)
• Charles Barron, upset at all-white Dem ticket, running for gov as head of all-black Freedom Party (BY ADAM LISBERG, DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF)
• 'Up, You Mighty Race,' Barron Tells Crowd at Campaign Kick-Off (By Michael Gonda, NY Observer)
• GOP pol indictment is bunk (By Roscoe Conkling, The Daily Caller) What of Independence Party boss Frank McKay, the diamond stud earring wearing ex-bartender and his crony Monroe Independence Party Chairman Tom Connelly who has a “job” with Democrat Senator Carl Kruger? How much of the money went into their pockets? As “Party Leaders” they can legally pay themselves a salary and expenses. Both have wisely declined to speak with prosecutors. Vance is off base if he thinks any of this is illegal. ...Roscoe Conkling is the pen name of a connected Albany insider who would rather remain anonymous.
• NYTIMES/CITY ROOM Bloomberg Scolds Reporters Again 

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• DID using charter revision to get back to roots (BY John Bayles, Downtown Express) District Leader Paul Newell, a D.I.D. member, said he was afraid the entire commission might be used to “shoehorn centralization of mayoral power.”

LAST WORD

• ACORN's Kick-Ass Activism - New Book Reveals the Whole Story (By Peter Dreier, Talking Points Memo Cafe)

AND ANOTHER THING

• The Big Spill and the Enviro Group of Ten: Why Isn't Their Web Traffic Surging? (Micah L. Sifry, TechPresident/Personal Democracy Forum) Part of the reason may be cultural. Many of these organizations are legacy institutions that still approach the web with a "fortress" mentality, to use Beth Kanter and Allison Fine's useful image. We're the professional environmentalists, they've been saying to the public for years--leave the issue to us! People looking for direct engagement with the problem of the oil spill and what to do about it will go elsewhere....