2012 Iowa Caucus/ New Hampshire Primary: Where are the Independents?

I wouldn't bother you with last week's news but it's the current topic of msm... I tried to pick out some of the more interesting items relative to independent voters. More to come! - NH


2012
PPP: Obama's base as enthusiastic as conservatives (By BYRON TAU, Politico) The Democratic-leaning pollster Public Policy Polling  [SEE BELOW] finds that African-Americans, tea party supporters and young people are the three most motivated demographic groups going into the 2012 election cycle.
Enthusiasm and the 2012 Election (Public Policy Polling) Obama's path to reelection is difficult and if the election was today and the Republican nominee was Mitt Romney I think he'd probably lose. That's because his standing has fallen so far with independents and with the more conservative wing of his own party. But it's not because those core groups that fueled his victory in 2008 have lost their enthusiasm.
Independents represent a major unknown in the N.H. primary (By Sandhya Somashekhar, Washington Post) Independents are a finicky and fickle bunch. They are deeply dissatisfied with the direction of the country, with a majority saying things are badly off track. Social issues do not concern them. Many voted for President Obama. And now, this critical voting bloc — which makes up roughly 45 percent of the New Hampshire electorate — is about to take center stage. If the Iowa contest exposed the conflicted mood and sharp divisions within the GOP, then New Hampshire will offer a snapshot of a hard-to-pin-down sliver of the electorate that has an outsize impact on elections, particularly in this swing state.
Ron Paul says he got youth, Independent vote (Mary Stegmeir, Des Moines Register) Ron Paul said this morning that a large number of young people and Independent voters supported him in Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses, proving his campaign can go the distance.
Shields, Brooks on the Macro and Micro Stories of the Iowa Caucuses (Judy Woodruff, PBSNewsHour on YouTube) The "sleeper story" is how Ron Paul is resonating among independent voters, NewsHour regular Mark Shields adds.
Americans Elect: Obama's Third-Party Tar Pit (By Jared E. Peterson, American Thinker) Anyone with the remotest interest in replacing Barack Obama as America's president in 2012 should take his eyes off Iowa and the boring ups and downs of the race for the Republican nomination. The real action that may well decide our next president is quietly going on elsewhere, in the state offices that qualify candidates and parties for the November 2012 presidential ballot.  You may not have heard much about a shadowy group called "Americans Elect"…

Iowa Independents Outnumber Dems and Repubs

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
GOP, Democrats say focus will be on Iowa Senate (By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press, Chicago Tribune) "I think when it's all said and done, it's up to the independent voters," Gronstal said. "They've often said it's good to have divided government." Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in Iowa by about 646,000 to 610,000, but there are more independent voters than members of either party: nearly 702,000.

States Could Reform Redistricting With Independent Nonpartisan Commissions

INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING

• Honest redistricting - If Senate won't keep promise, Cuomo must be ready to veto (By News Editorial Board, Buffalo News) The clock is running out. An independent commission needs to be in place to develop draft lines by the start of next year in order to have an impact.
• Republicans should keep pledge on redistricting effort - Republicans shouldn't back off election promise (EDITORIAL Democrat and Chronicle) Apparently Republicans, including Sens. Michael Nozzolio, Jim Alesi, Joe Robach and George Maziarz, are hoping that voters with short memories will forget the campaign pledges. Worse, they must think voters who bought their reform spiel are fools. But now is the time to depoliticize redistricting. New York only gets a chance to redraw district lines every 10 years based on the census. But Senate Republicans want to drag out the process, making it too late to be in place for next year's redistricting process.
• North Carolina wants to be like Iowa (by Jason Clayworth, Des Moines Register) Iowa’s redistricting system, which was first used in 1981, is a method where the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency propose boundaries based strictly upon the latest U.S. Census Bureau population estimates without political considerations.

Independent Voters of Iowa

check out Independent Voters of Iowa

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• S.D. keeps gaining independent voters (Argus Leader) Republicans have lost some of their edge in voter registration since 1970 in South Dakota, but the shift largely has gone to independents, not Democrats, election records suggest.
• Iowa expected to be electoral battleground (Waterloo and Cedar Falls Iowa News) One of the reasons Iowa is considered a battleground state is its large group of independent voters.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• CALIFORNIA: David Little: Protest vote cast in primary (Chico Enterprise-Record) Blindly going to the polls because the politicians tell us to only makes them believe we lemmings will do anything they say.
• OREGON: Petitioner scarcity-Voters will still consider as many as 10 initiatives on the ballot this fall (The Register-Guard)
• IDAHO: Beck, Ron Paul supporter join in bid to oust ID's GOP head (Idaho Press)

SOUTH CAROLINA FUSION
Obama Could Conceivably Be Listed Four Times on South Carolina Ballot (Ballot Access News) Probably Dems, SC Working Families Party, United Citizens Party, and possibly SC Independence Party...

CAMPAIGN
Black Americans mark mileston of Obama campaign (StarNewsOnline - Wilmington DE)

POLITICS AND RELIGION
On politics and faith/Let's face it: Religion looms large (Boulder Daily Camera) The Pew Forum reports that only about 16 percent of Americans define themselves as "unaffiliated" with any organized religion.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• About Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel being excluded from Dem afternoon delight debate yesterday, a few major papers made note of it by saying that they didn't fit the criteria, some blogs made note of it and added the comment "not sure why Allen Keyes was included in the Repub debate since he didn't meet that criteria either...." Here is some of the "coverage", and mind you the only real protest concerning democracy issues was a letter to the Des Moines Register: Leaving candidates out of debate compromises democracy (LETTER Des Moines Register)
• Kucinich press release on exclusion (OpEdNews) It seems that the Cleveland Plain Dealer doesn't like Kucinich....
• Keyes in, Kucinich out of Iowa debates (Boston Globe)
• Thursday’s political round-up-excerpt on exclusion of Kucinich (The Carpetbagger Report)
• 2 Democrats excluded from debate but Keyes allowed to take part (WCCO - MN)
• The networks and the debates (mediabistro.com)
• Kucinich fans wanted him in debate (Des Moines Register)

• There are 34 candidates on the New Hampshire ballot-- some spoke at the Manchester Community Access Media broadcast the forum, which will be aired on C-SPAN. (New Hampshire Union Leader)
• Matt Bai has a new blog on the NY Times' The Caucus called The Primary Argument
• There's a noticeable shift among black voters in South Carolina from Clinton to Obama (Wall Street Journal) and while the Washington Times calculates the Oprah Factor, it's a little known fact that Wayne Griffin and other independents in S.C. are organizing voters to challenge politics as usual

• Interesting roundup of blogs on National Journal The Hotline ...Markos Moulitsas, with the political instincts of a 15 year old hounddog, says: "I voted 'Obama' this time, not necessarily because I support him, but because the alternatives are no good. ..... "

Action Alert: Iowa media excludes Dennis Kucinich from debate

As we come down to the wire for the Iowa Caucus, and polls are shifting, Congressman Dennis Kucinich has been excluded from tomorrow afternoon's Democratic presidential debate, sponsored by the Des Moines Register and Iowa Public Television.

The Des Moines Register stated today that the criteria for participation in the debate that Congressman Kucinich and Senator Mike Gravel did not meet was 1) candidates must have a campaign office in Iowa and 2) candidates must have employed at least one full time staffer in Iowa.

One problem with this criteria is that the candidates just found out about it! And legally, debate sponsors are required to give pre-existing, objective criteria for inclusion. How else can the candidates possibly work to meet the criteria, or challenge it, if not given notice of it?

The Iowa caucuses are on January 3, and all polls show the race being very close. Kucinich may not be a frontrunner, but he does have support in the state. This is exactly the time when Howard Dean and the Democratic Party are supposed to put partisan interests aside and let the people decide!! Here's what you can do: Contact the Des Moines Register and Howard Dean, chair of the Democratic National Committee, to let them know you protest the lack of democracy expressed by the exclusion of Kucinich and Gravel from tomorrow's debate.

Protest to Howard Dean - call the Democratic National Committee headquarters at 202-863-8000, or email Deanh@dnc.org;
Protest to Carolyn Washburn - moderator of the debate, and editor of the Des Moines Register-call her at 515-284-8502, or email cwashbur@dmreg.com;
Please copy The Hankster with your letters.

Tell the news media and the Democratic Party that independent voters protest their violations of democracy!

You can watch and listen to the debate at 2pm EST live on CNN, C-SPAN3, C-SPAN Radio, Fox News Channel and Fox News Radio. It will also be streamed live online at DesMoinesRegister.com and IPTV.org. Check your local listings for more information.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Unity 08's Doug Bailey thinks 55% electorate would be open to an independent Bloomberg run., and that should be encouraging... (NY Sun)




• Both (R and D) Iowa primaries in a dead heat + four of five Democrats and two–thirds of Republicans say they are angry at the U.S. political system = ???? (Zogby.com)




• "Spoiler" label for Ron Paul -- Hmmmm.... he must be doing something right in New Hampshire (Wall Street Journal)




• Pew Research says Hispanic voters now prefer Dems (NY Times)




• Obama appeals to the nonprofit sector, points to Harlem Children's Zone as model program (Chronicle of Philanthropy)




• Steven Stark talks about the latest Rasmussen poll and its significance to Obama & The Black Vote in South Carolina and throughout the South (RealClearPolitics)




• Oprah Winfrey’s Obama -- will black women listen? (By: Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com)




• Vance Norgaard to run IP in Minnesota special state Senate election (Pioneer Press)




• Virginia's Lucky Narain running independent for vacant 1st Congressional seat (Stafford County Sun)




• Ballot initiative filed in California to end "winner-take-all" electoral votes. Who would benefit? (LA Times blog)




• Party-controlled system is eroding participatory democracy in New Jersey. (Cherry Hill Courier Post editorial)




• Nonpartisan elections Von Reichbauer initiative -- call it voters' revenge (Seattle Post Intelligencer)




• Activist Paul Jacob (see yesterday's post on The Hankster) expects 'ham sandwich' justice from Okla. AG (LegalNewline)




• I&R would helpf shift balance of power to back to electorate (LETTER to Asbury Partk Press)




• Gennifer Flowers likes Hillary (NY Post)




• Question of the week: Who do you vote for? Do you follow the party line or do you carefully consider each candidate when voting? Add your comment to the question of the week. (Napa Valley Register)