TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 6/23/10

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Faustus Makes a Deal (By DAVID BROOKS, NY Times) Independent voters in the districts favor Republicans by an average of 18 percentage points.
• Keith Olbermann's Wisdom - Obama, BP and the crisis of American liberalism. (Wall Street Journal, By JAMES TARANTO) Liberal pundits are not going to decide those outcomes; independent voters are, and those voters will make up their own minds about the quality of leadership the president and his party have offered.
• Ron Paul says GOP will be more open to libertarian-minded nominee in 2012 (By Alex Pappas -- The Daily Caller) “So if he really wants to make an imprint on the 2012 contest, it would be running as an independent rather than just going from state to state finishing fifth or sixth in Republican primaries,” he said.
• The rise of the new center (By William Temple, The Daily Caller)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Let's Have an Honest Debate About the Role of Parties (Harry Kresky, Huffington Post)
• Kresky: Prop 14 and NYC Nonpartisan Elections Speak for Rights of Voters v. Rights of Parties (POSTED BY NANCY HANKS, The Moderate Voice)
• OPINION: The problem with private parties (By Cindi Ross Scoppe, The State, Columbia, S.C., published on Leagle.com)
• Will Utah Republicans Play Dirty Today? (Newsweek)
• Popular Utah Democrat Faces Craigslist Opponent (US News & World Report)
• KIRK: Prop. 14 to the rescue? (By RICHARD KIRK -- For the North County Times/Californian)
• When voters take control of government (Lompoc Record) That is a very positive step toward breaking at least part of that two-party grip on legislative seats. Prop. 14 will be challenged in court, but if it survives, California elections will be forever changed.
• Funds seal budget deal - Plan approved as lawmakers get money for districts (By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON, Advocate Capitol News Bureau) While coming up with a budget was the main issue addressed in the 2010 session, legislators also returned the state to an open primary system for congressional election...
• More voters get written off: Florida needs to close the write-in loophole. (OPINION, By THE PALM BEACH POST) Florida abolished partisan runoffs, so anyone not of the candidates' party would be disenfranchised. The primary decides everything, even if no one gets a majority.
• Edward Achorn: Fox and Paiva Weed should throw public a bone (Providence Journal) Get rid of the master lever, that relic of machine politics of a century ago, which permits the mindless or manipulated to make one mark and automatically vote for every candidate of a single party on the ballot.
• Prop. 14 no game changer (Doris O’Brien /If I May Say So, Lompoc Record)
• FREEDOM HAWK: Voter approval of Prop 14 is a step in the right direction (By Patrick Walsh, Senior Staff Columnist, Daily Aztec)
• Proposition 14's move to open primaries troubles party chiefs (By Timm Herdt, Ventura County Star)
• FORUM: Will off-base in attacks on open primary (By OLLIE SPERAW -- Oceanside, North County Times)
• Party poopers (Toledo Blade)
• Look to Calif.'s new primary system (LETTER Arizon Republic)

GOV/ STATE/ MIDTERM RACES

• Matheson cruises to victory (By Brandon Loomis, The Salt Lake Tribune)
• IL: Cohen files as independent candidate for governor (By BERNARD SCHOENBURG, THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER)
• Your morning jolt: Mary Norwood sues John Eaves over demand for handwritten ‘Fultons’ (Atlanta Journal Constitution/Political Insider)
• Maine Independent Candidate Will Sue Over Method of Delivery of Petitions to Town Clerks (Ballot Access News)
• Partisan polarization equals political paralysis (Brent Larkin, Cleveland Plain Dealer)
• S.C. Independent candidate may challenge Greene, DeMint in November (By Amanda Carey - The Daily Caller)
• THIS JUST IN (by Free-Times - Columbia SC) S.C. Democrats Keep Greene on Ballot

NEW YORK

• A History of Delays: Why New York's Budget Is So Late So Often (By Azi Paybarah, WNYC)
• The Knaves of Albany (By GABE PRESSMAN, NBCNewYork)