TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 8/6/10

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Less Is More For Indie Voters (by Charlie Cook, National Journal) a change began to take place about a year ago among independent voters, who are usually less engaged and less ideological than either party's faithful. Democrats have long tended to believe that government should do more and Republicans have consistently preached that government does too much. By a few points, independent voters had generally sided with Democrats in favor of the government doing more, but they significantly changed their tune beginning last September.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Linda man knows he's long shot for U.S. Senate (Appeal Democrat) American Independent Party chairman Markham Robinson of Vacaville said his party will benefit from a state proposition passed in June creating open primaries, because voters will feel freer to register with third parties if they can still vote for a major-party candidate.
• About Snyder: Conservatives need to get a grip (Dan Calabrese, The Michigan View/Detroit News) Now begins the summer of Michigan conservatives' discontent. Rick Snyder may be one tough nerd, but apparently he does not qualify as a "true conservative." And the keepers of the "true conservative" gate are fit to be tied because RINO Rick somehow managed to storm the palace. Activists are demanding an end to open primaries.
• House District 66 Write-in Cuts Most Voters Out Of Republican Primary (By Cary McMullen, THE LEDGER) Putting write-in candidates into a race to close a primary has been used as a political technique in recent years. A state constitutional amendment passed by Florida voters in 1998 allows open primaries when only one party puts up candidates. But write-in candidates - who do not need to declare party affiliation and who pay no filing fees - count as opposition in the general election, even though they rarely draw many votes.
• Not So Golden - Massive debts, bickering politicians, a confusing and inept legislative process: Welcome to California. (By TROY SENIK, BOOK REVIEW WAll Street Journal)

GOOD GOVERNMENT

• GORDON L. WEIL: A new, nonpartisan organization could improve Maine government (Maine Morning Sentinel) A model that might work is New York’s Citizens Union, which often has been a voice of reason on public policy. And it occasionally has produced solid results. In fact, given New York’s political mess, the idea might work better in Maine and other states with a good-government tradition than in its home state.  

INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES

• Ieshuh Griffin, independent Wis. candidate, loses bid to have 'not the whiteman's b**ch' on ballot (BY HELEN KENNEDY, DAILY NEWS) 
• African American voters abandonment of Quinn could crush re-election chances (Illinos Politcal Buzz Examiner, Dennis Brennan) More troubling according to the poll is that 23 percent of African American voters say that they will vote for a third party candidate.  An amazing 23 percent of African-Americans, 19 percent of moderates, 14 percent of Democrats and women and 10 percent of liberals chose "Some other candidate" in the poll. 

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• Pols Say Nonpartisan Elections Will 'Disenfranchise' Minority Voters - Comptroller John Liu declared a "Coalition for Fair and Free Elections" to fight the push for nonpartisan elections. (By Jill Colvin, DNAinfo) More than a dozen of the city's most prominent politicians joined local activists on the steps of City Hall Thursday to protest a pending referendum to authorize nonpartisan elections this fall, saying the change would disenfranchise minority voters.
• Minority Dems Vow To Fight Nonpartisan Elections (BY ADAM LISBERG, NY Daily News/Daily Politics) "We must kill this idea which would eventually mean an end to this political rainbow," said state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery (D-Brooklyn). "Let's go out and work and fight against this idea, which is meant to kill us off."
• Boro residents voice opinions on charter revision (By Howard Koplowitz, Your Nabe Queens) Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) told the commission, which expects to release its final report next week, that he believes the body does not have enough time to thoroughly review topics it discusses and recommended that no items be put on the ballot for November.
• Budgets on agenda at Charter hearing (by Michael Cusenza, Assistant Editor, Queens Chronicle) “We don’t want to bring anything unless we feel there is a likelihood that the voters will agree with us,” Goldstein said. “We believe that if we bring something that it has sufficient merit that warrants affirmation by the people who will be reacting to our recommendations.”