TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES FOR INDEPENDENT VOTERS 9/24/10

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Harry Kresky: Political Reform and Human Development (By Harry Kresky, The Moderate Voice) What we are facing is a crisis of development. Human beings do not appear to have the capacity to address and organize themselves to do what needs to be done. The development gap must be addressed and overcome. And that is not the same thing as finding the right answer. In fact the search for the right answer takes you in the wrong direction. Can we develop so that we act to do what is best for our species, to work with others to create that collective performance? Can this be done?
• Could US elections see the rise of the powerful centre? (The Daily Maverick - South Africa) Taken together, these broad trends have increasingly meant that in the general elections (as opposed to primary elections where party loyalists or voters with strong feelings about a particular issue are crucial) are won by the votes of Americans with weak (or even no) party identification and loyalty. Pre-eminently, such voters often live in the country’s sprawling suburbs and the exurbs beyond, rather than in the country’s urban cores or its increasingly depopulated rural landscape.
• State sees increase in Independent Party voters (Anthony Pura, KHAS TV - NE) It's a slight increase of independent voters, but when you get down to it it's about 12,000 people more than the 2008 general election that don't have a party identity, and both Republican and Democratic candidates want their vote this November. Red or Blue, Republican or Democrat – less Nebraskans want to wear the label.
• Pew: Independents now for GOP (By: Jeanne Cummings, Politico) “For the third national election in a row, independent voters may be poised to vote out the party in power,” Pew concludes after its study of 2,816 registered voters, including 1,069 independent registered voters.
• Independents Oppose Party in Power ... Again  - More Conservative, More Critical of National Conditions (Pew Research) For the third national election in a row, independent voters may be poised to vote out the party in power. The Republican Party holds a significant edge in preferences for the upcoming congressional election among likely voters, in large part because political independents now favor Republican candidates by about as large a margin as they backed Barack Obama in 2008 and congressional Democratic candidates four years ago.
• Kansas voters leaving the Republican Party (Dome on the Range blog)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Primary change would increase interest (Tiffin Advertiser Tribune - OH) More recently, some members of the city council and review commission discussed switching to nonpartisan primaries. This could boost voter turnout in the primaries, because independent voters could cast ballots on candidates as well as issues.
• Open debate on closed primaries (My Maryland | Blair Lee, Montgomery County Gazette - MD
• Voters shortchanged by system  (by Keith Nathan, UNLV Rebel Yell) The closed primary is more exclusionary, as only citizens registered with the primary-associated party can choose a nominee — one who must be from that party. Nevada politics remain tarnished by the closed-primary system, which severely limits the candidate spectrum for the general election.

THE PARTIES

• EDITORIAL: The age-old battle of “Us vs. Them” wages on. (The Lufkin Daily News - TX) Let’s face it, if either party had answers, this nation would be in a lot better shape right now. NOTE: Well put!!! -NH

COLORADO

• U.S. District Court Judge Won’t Enjoin Colorado Discriminatory Campaign Contribution Limits (Ballot Access News) The judge ruled from the bench, and his opinion is not in writing yet.  He is likely to ask the state courts to construe Colorado law, to clarify whether someone may give $400 to a Republican or a Democratic candidate even after the primary is over.

NEW YORK

• What about those NY Gov poll numbers? (By Azi Paybarah, WNYC/The Empire)
• Paladino Campaign Claims Cuomo Lying On Debate Outreach (By Edward-Isaac Dovere, City Hall) Brooklyn City Council Member Charles Barron, who successfully won a spot on the ballot as the Freedom Party gubernatorial candidate, also joined the fray, claiming the 43,000 petition signatures he collected, compared to the 25,000 Paladino collected, gives him more of a right to debate Cuomo than the Republican nominee has. Paladino’s past statements only strengthen that argument, Barron said.
• The Truth About Ethics and the State We’re In (By MICHAEL SCHENKLER, Queens Tribune) But the history of the Legislature shows apparent crooks are supported by their caucus until convicted of a felony. The list of unethical crooks that should have been abandoned by their colleagues is long, starts with former Senate Leader Joe Bruno and runs straight on til morning. Without prejudging any member of the Legislature, it is clear to me that the ethics oversight of the members by the Assembly and Senate is a political self-serving process to protect those in office.
• Press Focuses on Vito Lopez, Brooklyn County Leader - ‘It’s Yet To Be Demonstrated That Any of His Acts Are Crimes’ (By Henry Stern, Brooklyn Eagle)