Today is primary day and 3.5 million Flori

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Independent Voters: Obama Needs to take on BOTH parties

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
  • What Obama's Tax Package Means to Independents (STATEMENT BY JACKIE SALIT, PRESIDENT, IndependentVoting.Org, Huffington Post) But if he really wants to send a message to independents, he's going to have to show that he's willing to take on both parties and their tightfisted control of the political process, something the left liberals who are railing at him now have refused to do.
  • Your view: Listening to the people (By Steve Goebel, LETTER The Joplin Globe) Incoming Speaker of the House John Boehner said he would listen to the American people. Perhaps he should listen to independent voters who made his victory possible, instead of his friends in the health insurance industry.
  • Former state Rep. Miner advises new GOP majority to steer clear of social issues (By Ned Barnett, The American Independent/North Carolina Independent News) He said they should avoid pushing legislation on divisive social issues that urban and well-educated independent voters oppose or won’t support.
OBAMA


OPEN PRIMARIES
BLOOMBERG
  • N.Y. Mayor Bloomberg attacks Washington, stokes the center (By Dan Balz, Washington Post) He attacked the "ideologues on the left" for clinging to the belief that taxing and spending can restore prosperity and for holding a government-knows-best approach to creating jobs. He attacked "ideologues on the right" for entrusting all faith in the free market and writing off any significant role for government in shaping the environment in which the economy can flourish.
  • Bloomberg Loves Obama's Tax Compromise With GOP (Gothamist) "I was very pleased to see the president and the Congress come together. It is exactly - number one, it’s exactly that kind of coming together that we need in Washington, and we need it in Albany as well incidentally. We have it, I think, pretty much in New York City."
  • Bloomberg cheers D.C. for 'coming together and doing something' (Ben Smith, Politico) What democracy is about is coming together where not everybody gets everything they want. In fact, maybe nobody gets everything they want, but you minimize the damage to the outliers, and most people get enough that they can walk away satisfied, if not ecstatic.
EDUCATION REFORM
  • Pew Report: Florida Increases Pre-Kindergarten Investment Amid Budget Crisis - Race to the Top grant gives newly elected lawmakers chance to improve quality (PRESS RELEASE) Research shows that high-quality pre-k helps narrow the achievement gap, reduces grade repetition and special education placements, increases high school graduation rates, reduces crime and delinquency and leads to greater employment and higher earnings as adults.
  • Federal education official talks schools (by Rhonda Gillespie, Chicago Defender) Speaking recently at an education conference in Arlington, Va., the Defender sat down with U. S. Dept. of Education Asst. Secretary of Civil Rights Russlyn Ali to discuss the nation’s public school system and how the federal government is address it. Ali is a lead adviser on civil rights and responsible for enforcing U.S. civil rights laws in education.
  • SB 6, Part Deux: GOP Pushes School Reform (BY: KENRIC WARD, Sunshine State News) The Florida Education Association and Democratic lawmakers bridled at Senate Bill 6, which sought to link teacher performance with compensation while abolishing tenure in the K-12 system. Now, with Republicans gaining supermajorities in both the House and the Senate, and Crist leaving office, GOP leaders are confident they can enact an SB 6-style reform bill.

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