TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 7/16/10

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• 2010: The year of the independent? (By: Emily Schultheis, Politico) The independents — including former Sen. Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island, Massachusetts Treasurer Tim Cahill and attorney and businessman Eliot Cutler in Maine — haven’t exactly come up through the ranks of third-party politics. Nor are they political neophytes. By and large, they are former partisans who are well-versed in politics and policy.
• A Referendum on Democrats v. a Choice of 2 Parties (By GERALD F. SEIB, Wall Street Journal) It's particularly important for Democrats to remind independent and swing voters that they don't love Republicans very much. Democratic strategists think they are in much better shape if they can cast each House race not as a national referendum on their party, but a choice between a specific, local Democratic candidate—one presumably well-known and better liked than the national party—and an actual Republican opponent.
• Pretty Bad 2012 numbers for Obama (Public Policy polling) There are two things driving these strong poll numbers for the Republican candidates. The first is a lead with independents in every match up. Romney leads 48-35 with them, Gingrich is up 50-39, Huckabee has a 46-40 advantage, Palin's up 47-42, and even Brewer has a 38-37 edge.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Polling place privacy -- Quinn says let's discuss (Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune/Change of Subject)
• Governor Pat Quinn's "Open Primary" Push Is Fish Food (David Ormsby, Huffington Post)

STATE RACES

• AZ: Poll: Brewer, McCain lead in primaries (by Ginger Rough and Dan Nowicki, The Arizona Republic)  Another 12 percent was undecided. In Arizona, independent voters can choose to participate in a partisan primary.
• KS: Advance voting begins slowly for Aug. 3 primary (By George Diepenbrock, De Soto Explorer)
• KS: Stephene Moore Faces Difficult Path to History (By Lauren W. Whittington, CQ-Roll Call) Alan Secrest, a Democratic pollster who has worked for Dennis Moore and is now working for his wife, said independent voters are the key.
• CT: Foley Leads Primary, But Dems Ahead In Connecticut (By Reid Wilson, National Journal/Hotline) But regardless which Dem wins the primary, that candidate will be in strong position to win in Nov. Lamont leads Foley by a 45%-33% margin and has a 49%-27% lead over Fedele. Malloy has a 44%-33% lead on Foley and bests Fedele by a 49%-26% margin. In each case, independent voters favor the Dem contender by statistically significant margins.
• IL: Brady Not Concerned About Cohen (WBEZ - Chicago)

NEW YORK

• Rep. McMahon leading 2 GOP challengers in fund-raising (Judy L. Randall, SI Advance) Also on the petition front, the Independence Party, which endorsed McMahon, filed 1,308 signatures on his behalf. Independence chairman Frank Morano said a minimum of 495 signatures is needed for a ballot berth. But McMahon might have to duke it out in an Independence primary with John Tabacco, a one-time City Council candidate, who filed 602 signatures by mid-day today but said he hoped to file more by tonight's midnight deadline
• NYC mayor spends $109M on campaign. Opponent? $9M (By SARA KUGLER FRAZIER (AP) Bloomberg, a former CEO who founded the financial information company that bears his name, has a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at $18 billion. He is ranked as the wealthiest person in New York City and the 23rd richest in the world.
• Bloomberg, Alvin Greene: A tale of two pocketbooks (msnbc/First Read) and *** Can you spare some change? (msnbc First Read from last October)

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• Term Limit Question May Make Nov. Ballot (By DOMENICK RAFTER, Queens Tribune) On term limits, the report recognizes the public’s support for term limits, but also notes that political scientists and current and former elected officials say term limits are ineffective, replacing people but not the problems – the report also says more time would be needed before a concise analysis can be made.