Open Primaries, Redistricting, No Labels, 2012 and Independent Voters

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Bucking open primary trend (JOAN BARRON, Casper Tribune - WY) A bill sponsored by Sen. Kit Jennings, R-Casper, and Rep. Amy Edmonds, R-Cheyenne, would make primary elections fully closed. It would require voters to declare their party affiliation 90 days before an election so they could not cross over on election day. If this bill passes, Wyoming will be bucking the national trend.

REDISTRICTING

• New approach to redistricting needed in Arizona (by James Huntwork, Arizona Republic) Perhaps the right question to ask is, which approach to competitiveness would be better for Arizona? As noted, after creating eight minority districts, the overall political balance in the remainder of our state would be approximately 42 percent Republican and 26 percent Democrat, a difference of 16 percent, with 32 percent independents. If this balance could be maintained, 58 percent of the registered voters in every district would not be Republicans, and candidates from both parties would need to build coalitions that includes independents and crossover voters in order to win the general election.
• Final six members selected for state's redistricting commission (Posted by Jim Sanders, Sac Bee/CapitolAlert) Members chosen today were Democrats Gabino Aguirre and Maria Blanco, Republicans Gil Ontai and Michael Ward, and two people not affiliated with either party -- Michelle DiGuilio-Matz and M. Andre Parvenu.

OBAMA

• Obama Approval With Liberals Dips: Gallup (NPR) The loss of some liberal support as the president moved to reconnect with independent voters was probably to be expected.
• The Populist Wave (By Daniel DiSalvo, RealClearPolitics) Obama was able to capture independent voters in 2008 but lost them in 2010. He has just declared that he will fight to win them over in 2012. To do that the President must grasp that this demographic has begun to develop its own political identity and that this identity is not congenial to liberalism. Rather than attribute such economic sorting to the impersonal forces of globalization, many independents and tea party affiliates think government has exacerbated the situation.
• White House Sees Deal as a Template (By LAURA MECKLER And JONATHAN WEISMAN, Wall Street Journal) The drive toward compromise is central to Mr. Obama's work to restore his image as someone who can change Washington, and to reclaim the independent voters who propelled him to office in 2008 but abandoned Democrats in 2010.
• Analysis: Obama may get political boost from tax-cut deal (By Steve Holland, Reuters) As a result, experts believe Obama helped his own prospects with independent voters as he prepares to set up his re-election campaign next year and look ahead to 2012.
• For President Obama, signing tax-cut bill makes for a good day after a bad election (By Dan Balz, Washington Post) The deal is also a reminder that, despite unrest in his party's base over the terms of the agreement, the Obama White House recognizes that the 2012 election will be won or lost with independent voters, who prize results and prefer to see Republicans and Democrats working constructively. Virtually every political calculation Obama makes over the coming months will be with that compass in hand.
• Tax Deal Is Template for Obama Course Correction (By LAURA MECKLER and JONATHAN WEISMAN, Wall Street Journal) One downside to the White House approach: Reaching for compromises may anger liberals, as was the case with the tax debate. But White House officials argue, and polling shows, that most core Democrats remain supportive. The more urgent need, Democrats say, is to reach out to independents.

NO LABELS

• The political fantasyland of the 'No Labels' movement (By George F. Will, Washington Post) The perpetrators of this mush purport to speak for people who want to instruct everyone else about how to speak about politics.
• Around the Sphere Blog Roundup (POSTED BY JOE GANDELMAN, The Moderate Voice) A group called “No Labels” has formed which tries to underscore the fact there is a center and that political labels are not what (should) matter. This is a threat to some who feel anything that does not have a D or R or L or C label is either a lie or threat.
• ‘No Labels’ movement places consensus over partisanship (By MAGGIE HASSAN, Guest Commentary, Nashua Telegraph) We will advocate for “open” primaries – New Hampshire already has them – allowing a broader cross section of voters to help choose party nominees.
• The trouble with No Labelers (E.J. DIONNE JR., Washington Post) My attitude is moderately supportive and moderately critical - accented by a moderate touch of cynicism… Indeed, there is no far left to speak of anymore. Even among socialists - I'm talking about real ones - almost all now acknowledge the benefits of markets, no longer propose state ownership of the means of production, and accept the inevitability of inequalities in wealth and income.
• Avlon: Why No Labels Threatens Rush & Olbermann (FRUMFORUM NEWS) Rush’s core concern seems to be that there is no such thing as the center or independent voters. He believes that America is divided between the far-right and the far-left, and he likes to offer only that false choice because he believes it’s a fight he can win. But an emphasis on swing voters or independents—the largest and fastest-growing segment of the electorate—makes the math more complicated. It screws an inflexible ideologue up.

BLOOMBERG

• Bloomberg is on the stump, but not (By GERALDINE BAUM, Los Angeles Times, in Sac Bee) In his second term, he began focusing on national problems. He launched a coalition of mayors and business leaders to overhaul immigration policy; he stormed Washington with Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., and Ed Rendell, D-Pa., to raise awareness about the country's crumbling infrastructure. He led a national effort to improve public health.

CALIFORNIA

• New redistricting panel takes aim at bizarre political boundaries (By Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times) In the districts drawn by the Legislature the old way, every incumbent member of Congress and the state Legislature on the California ballot was reelected Nov. 2 — even as a survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found that only 21% of voters approve of the job being done by Congress and 12% like what state lawmakers do.
• CALIFORNIA STATE SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS PROP. 14 (by Chris Hinyub, CAIVN) Defense attorney Marguerite Leoni said plaintiffs are trying to undermine the legislative process by coming at Prop. 14 through the back door.
• California Secretary of State Construes Top-Two Rules to Increase Number of Signatures in Lieu of Filing Fee Twenty-Fold, for Minor Parties (Ballot Access News)

NEW YORK

• Redistricting will be key issue next year (By Nick Reisman •Albany Bureau• Elmira Star Gazette) If a non-partisan panel is approved, questions remain as to how the districts will be drawn - including how to fairly represent minority groups and whether bodies of water should separate districts.
• N.Y. State Senate Majority Leader Charged with Embezzlement (by AFRO Staff)
• Several minor parties to rise in ballot position (NICK REISMAN, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)
• Liu versus de Blasio: Who's ahead? (Crain's New York) Insiders say Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has had a better first year in citywide office than Comptroller John Liu as the two maneuver for position in the 2013 mayoral race. Both were elected with strong support from labor and the Working Families Party, but that coalition is likely to support de Blasio for mayor, insiders say.
• Bill Samuels: Pedro Espada Shouldn't Use Campaign Cash For Self-Defense (BY CELESTE KATZ, NY Daily News/Daily Politics) Bill Samuels, head of the New Roosevelt Initiative and onetime ponderer of a run for lieutenant governor, put a lot of effort into rallying the troops to get state Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr. out of office.
• Espada and Son Plead Not Guilty to Embezzling From Health Network (By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and COLIN MOYNIHAN, NY Times) They each face five charges of embezzlement and one count of conspiracy. If convicted on all counts...

LAST WORD(S)

• Michael Bloomberg, American God - He speaks. You listen. (By Jack Shafer, Slate) By grooming himself as a sensible yet iron-fisted ruler who doesn't want to transform your life—just to nudge you for your betterment—Bloomberg excites no negative passions.
• "Can We Tell It Like It Really Happened?": Race and The Scottsboro Boys (Tom Matlack, Huffington Post -- NOTE: Matlack, who is white, helped finance the play in honor of his parents' role in Freedom Summer 1964) None of the protesters had seen the play. The group's leader, Charles Barron, a one-time gubernatorial candidate, organized the protests to raise his own personal profile, while attacking artists who are asking tough questions about racial injustice -- the same racial injustice that the Freedom Party claims to be fighting. My question to the protesters is the one I ask you: When are you going to stop the minstrel show that is race in America, wipe away the blackface, and start telling the truth, no matter how uncomfortable that might be? It will always be easier to lie when the system reinforces myth.