Morris Fiorina: Yes, Virginia, there really ARE independent voters!

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
5 False Assumptions Political Pundits Make All the Time (By Molly Ball, The Atlantic) It's true that self-described independents are more likely to have a partisan leaning than to be "pure independents" -- centrists who find themselves equally sympathetic with both sides' views. But the "independents" are still more independent than the partisans on either side.


VOTING RIGHTS ACT

• Analysis - In U.S. voting-rights case, liberal justices pitch to Kennedy (By Joan Biskupic, The Star - UK) Barely a minute into a U.S. Supreme Court hearing, liberal justices began a strategic barrage of questions that came down to this: Why should a time-honoured plank of the 1965 Voting Rights Act be invalidated in a case from Alabama with its history of racial discrimination?
• Sotomayor, Kagan ready for battles (By Dana Milbank, Washington Post) For a quarter-century, Antonin Scalia has been the reigning bully of the Supreme Court, but finally a couple of justices are willing to face him down.

Sequester Pawns

C-SPAN 3 Coverage of National Conference of Independents Tonight 12:30AM: Change the Culture to Change the System

UPDATED 3/1/13 -- Jacqueline Salit's keynote address link fixed

Portions of the 2013 National Conference of Independents will air tonight on C-SPAN 3 beginning at12:30 am (2/26) 

IndependentVoting.org president Jacqueline Salit's keynote address [not enbedable] followed by the panel discussion on "Changing the Culture to Change the System" moderated by Salit and Harry Kresky and including South Carolina State Rep Joe Neal; Omar Ali, Adjunct Professor, University North Carolina at Greensboro; Jason Olson, Director, IndependentVoice.org; Bradley Tusk, Mike Bloomberg 2009 campaign manager;  Steve Peace, Chair, California Independent Voter Project; Lenora Fulani, co-founder, IndependentVoting.org; Ted Downing, co-author, Arizona Top Two open primary initiative.
 

The segments re-air at 4:45 am on C-SPAN 3.

Stay tuned!

Independents Rising - National Conference of Independents

On February 16th, 2013, IndependentVoting.org hosted the seventh biennial national conference of independents in New York City. Over 400 activists from across the country gathered to take stock of their growing movement. Currently 40% of Americans consider themselves independent. Jacqueline Salit, president of IndependentVoting.org, hosted the event.

Enjoy this slide show from the event!

Independent Conference 2013

Independent voters and organizers from around the country gathered for a conference in New York City last Saturday. Fun was had by all and this is a small sample of the many friendly and independent faces.

Montana Repubs Pitch Top Two Open Primaries

OPEN PRIMARIES
Panel hears GOP plan for 'top 2' primary elections (Written by Matt Gouras, Associated Press, Great Falls MT Tribune) House Bill 436 would advance the top two candidates who receive the most votes in the new open primary election to the November election. A candidate receiving more than 50 percent of the vote in a primary would win the election outright — and no general election would be held for that race. Rep. Scott Reichner, of Bigfork, the sponsor, said the measure would let voters choose candidates from among different parties without having to strictly choose one party for an entire ballot. Many voters do not strongly identify with one of the two major parties, he said.

Georgia Independent Voters Calls for Top Two Open Primaries

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Independent Voters a Growing National Force A full "40 percent of American voters consider themselves to be independents unswayed by party loyalties." (By Shyla Nambiar - Peachtree Corners resident and activist with Georgia Independent Voters, Peachtree Corners Patch) In Georgia last year, 77 percent of legislative races had only one candidate on the general election ballot, but this number would be significantly lowered if primaries were conducted as top-two nonpartisan processes, as it did in California last year.

Mickey Edwards, Author of "The Parties Versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans" on Charlie Rose tonight...

Charlie Rose tonight!

February 18, 2013

Michelle Rhee, Author of "Radical: Fighting to Put Students First." Next Designer Carolina Herrera, Composer Tom Hodge and Music Director Javier Peral discuss their collaboration. We conclude with Mickey Edwards, Author of "The Parties Versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans"
www.charlierose.com

Cathy L. Stewart, Mickey Edwards and Jacqueline Salit at Politics for the People 4.27.12