TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 7/19/10

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Voters Rate the Parties' Ideologies - Dems Viewed as Farther from Political Center than is GOP (Pew Research) Democratic and independent voters are more diverse ideologically: 42% of Democrats say they are liberal (including 10% very liberal), 32% are moderate and 24% are conservative. Among independents, 48% describe their views as moderate while 33% say they are conservative and 17% are liberal.

SPECIAL FROM POLITICO:

POWER AND THE PEOPLE

A POLITICO POLL, July 19, 2010

On July 9-14, Penn Schoen Berland surveyed 1,011 people in the U.S. with a representative

distribution of Americans and 227 Washington D.C. Elites. Margin of error is 3.1% and 6.53%

respectively.

Do you think the political system in Washington D.C. is broken? 

Yes: 

72% of general population

64% of Washington elites

69% general population independents

Click here for full poll results

• Poll: D.C. elites a world apart (By: Andy Barr, Politico)
• Reality gap: U.S. struggles, D.C. booms (By: Jim VandeHei and Zachary Abrahamson, Politico)
• Watch the Obama reelect numbers (By: Mark Penn, Politico)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• IL: Our Opinion: Lawmakers should OK open primary bill (THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER)
• Parties Battling Irrelevancy (by Reid Wilson, National Journal)

NORTH CAROLINA

• Hearing Set for North Carolina Ballot Access Case (Ballot Access News)

OREGON

• Oregon Voters Flock To Independent Party -- Whether They Mean To Or Not (Chris Lehman, OPB News)

NEW YORK

• Talk persists of Bloomberg presidential run (By Ros Krasny, Reuters) Unlike Perot, Bloomberg brings with him a track record of winning elections. A Quinnipiac University poll published June 30 showed him with a 57 percent to 33 percent approval rating as New York's mayor.
• NYC mayor in NH: I'm not running for President (By PAULA TRACY, New Hampshire Union Leader)
• Espada, Under Investigation, Faces a Well-Financed Opponent (By SAM DOLNICK, NY Times)
• WFP Endorses Rivera and Goes to War With Espada (Gotham Gazette/Wonkster) Letter to members from Dan Cantor: Working Families just endorsed a great progressive challenger to Espada, Gustavo Rivera. To get politicians like Espada out and real leaders like Rivera in, we’re planning to “knock on thousands of doors and recruit leaders of religious, tenants’ and civic groups,” as the Times reports in today’s story.
• 2010 LOCAL PRIMARIES - FIRST REPORT (posted by Jerry Skurnik, Room Eight)