TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

OPEN PRIMARIES

• OR: Measure opens Ore. primaries to all voters (KTVZ Central Oregon)
• PA: Bill Would Let Independents Vote In The State Primaries (The Bulletin)

CAMPAIGN

• Independents split evenly between Obama and McCain (Associated Press) A recent Associated Press-GfK Poll showed them divided about evenly, 44 percent for Obama and 41 percent for McCain.
• Obama has four-point lead on McCain (Reuters) Zogby said that while Obama still had a 17-point lead among independent voters, this was down from 21 points on Sunday and showed that some independents remain to be persuaded.
• Race For the White House: Independents grow in numbers, clout (Omaha WORLD-HERALD) Since the 2004 presidential election, the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District has become less Republican and more independent.
• Graham: Obama Is Not A Centrist (CBS Face the Nation) Gov. Bill Ritter, D-Colo., said that the election "is going to be decided by independent voters, and independent voters care about the economy."
• In this race, all roads lead to Ohio (Lexington KY Herald Leader) Ohio doesn’t track voter registration numbers for each party because it has an open primary system in which people show up at the polls and choose which party’s primary to vote in.

THIRD PARTIES
Associated Press Story on McCain Endorsement by Reform Party is Misleading (Ballot Access News) None of the ballot-qualified Reform Parties have any connection with the meeting in Hicksville, New York, that endorsed McCain. Nevertheless, the Associated Press naively reported that “The” Reform Party had endorsed McCain.

NYC MAYOR MIKE AND TERM LIMITS
Christine Quinn is gambling for her political life (NY Daily News/Daily Politics) "She wants to stay in office, the Council wants to stay in office and the mayor wants to stay in office - after that, all bets are off," said political consultant Hank Sheinkopf. "It's a risky gamble for everyone."

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

The Week in Politics (TIME Magazine) If most of those million fleeing Republicans have become tenuous independents, then who are those 700,000 new Democrats?


REFORM

• MI: Graduate the Electoral College-States should dump winner-take-all system and award electors proportionally (Detroit Free Press) Polls show that 70%-80% of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College in favor of direct, popular election of the president.


• PA: Proposed election board rattles Republican Party (Lancaster Online)


• REFORM MICHIGAN GOVERNMENT NOW! PROPOSAL


• Nixing term limits is key Capitol reform (Lansing State Journal editorial) Lansing pols want roll back of term limits in context of reform proposal


• A plot to rule state-Democrats' secret strategy aims to trick voters into one-party advantage in Michigan (DETROIT FREE PRESS)


• "Who's on First?" for the State Reform Proposal? (The Flint Journal)

CAMPAIGN

McCain hits Maine Monday for votes, money (Morning Sentinel/Maine Today) independent voters outnumber both Democrats and Republicans in Maine. About 39 percent of voters are unenrolled, 29 percent are registered as Democrats and 32 percent as Republicans


LOCAL INDEPENDENT NEWS

• Swing vote key to win in Congress (Zanesville Times Recorder)


• Do the math, Republicans-The rise of independent voters in California means a boost for GOP moderates. (LA Times)


• More News (Republican & Herald) Monday, Reps. Chris King and John Galloway, both Democrats from Bucks County, called for a referendum this November on whether to conduct a constitutional convention in 2009.

THIRD PARTY NEWS

• AK: 9th Circuit Sets Hearing Date in Political Party Rights Case (Ballot Access News)


• PA: Constitution Party allowed on ballot (Springfield MO News Leader)

MEDIA / NETROOTS / BLOGOSPHERE

Marcos Moulitsas' Daily Kos moults to Netroots Nation in an attempt to flex muscle on the scrawney left-wing of the Dem Party...

• Left-leaning bloggers flex muscle in Texas (Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle) "We knew that the Internet and Internet alone is not going to win elections. If our people on the Internet were not also organizing on the ground, we're not going to be effective," Obama's deputy campaign manager, Steve Hildebrand, a 22-year veteran of political campaigns, said Saturday. He urged the bloggers in Austin to talk about the 56 million unregistered voters in the United States, particularly people of color and youth, then get out and register them.


• Gore, Pelosi Address Liberal Bloggers at Convention (Associated Press/Fox News Election HQ)


• Texas Boot Camp for Bloggers on the Right (NY Times/The Caucus)


• LIVE from Austin:: From Dean to Obama - Four Years (Northwest Progressive Institute Advocate)


• Liberal Bloggers Rally, Drink in Austin (Wall Street Journal/Washington Wire)


• The War, Dems, MoveOn and The Uprising (Guerilla News Network) David Sirota now has a new book out: The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington. In it he expands on his criticism of the Democratic Party and its partisan, professional antiwar activists in the leadership of MoveOn.

Pennsylvania Rep. Chris King's bill would allow independents to vote in primary elections

Bill would allow Pennsylvania independents, third-party members a vote in primary elections
By RICHARD FELLINGER Public Opinion Harrisburg Bureau

Independents and third-party voters don't have a say in Tuesday's red-hot primary elections, but a handful of lawmakers say they should. Rep. Chris King, D-Bucks, has authored a new bill that would allow registered independents and third-party members to vote in Pennsylvania primary elections.....