Road to Hell Is Paved With Intentions

2012

• Dems fret over Obama re-election (By Michael Barbaro, Jeff Zeleny and Monica Davey, New York Times in Sac Bee) To reassure nervous Democrats, the president's campaign aides are traveling the country with PowerPoint presentations that spell out Obama's path to re-election. Their pitch is that Obama's appeal has grown in traditionally Republican states like Arizona, where there are fast-growing Latino populations, and that Republicans have alienated independent voters with "extreme" positions on popular programs like Medicare.
• Huntsman struggles to keep candidacy alive - The Utah Republican was a long shot from the beginning: He's tried to be the voice of reason in a field that has been courting the angry voter. In New Hampshire, he makes a last stand. (By Paul West, Washington Bureau, LA Times) Huntsman, scion of a wealthy Salt Lake City family, has distanced himself from the rest of the GOP field in an effort to appeal to moderates and independents. But he seems to be hawking a product for which there is no market.
• Huntsman has $15 million to $66 million in assets (By Michael J. Bailey, Boston Globe) Considered a moderate, Huntsman has struggled to resonate with GOP voters. Focusing on the traditionally independent voters in the first primary state of New Hampshire, he has established one of the biggest campaign organizations ever there. Yet his poll numbers remain stuck in the single digits.
• Huntsman discloses his personal wealth (By T.W. Farnam, Washington Post/Post Politics) The Huntsman campaign has been mired in the low single digits in polling throughout the Republican nomination contest. Huntsman has run toward the ideological middle, hoping to appeal to independents who can vote in open primaries like those in New Hampshire.
• The election of 1992 could be harbinger of 2012 election (By Perry Mitchell, Special to the Coastal Point - DE) Any third-party candidate would face dynamic institutional barriers in winning the presidency. Duverger’s law from social sciences says that the plurality system existing in our congressional and presidential elections forces us into a two-party system, which is a huge barrier for a third-party candidate to overcome. The big challenge for our two-party system in 2012 will be how to accommodate the diverse views within its parties and nominate a centrist candidate. So far, the politics of 2010 and 2011 don’t show much promise that this will occur.
• Larry Sabato Politics Column Shows Plausible Scenario for an Electoral College Tie in 2012 (Ballot Access News) Even with only two candidates receiving electoral votes, a tie could occur and then the U.S. House would choose the president, with each state having one vote.
• Seemann Says: Ron Paul may be charismatic, but doesn’t understand science (By Chris Seemann, LSU Reveille) If the nation were striding up to an important impasse, could Paul be stubborn enough to stand his ground when Obama could not? Perhaps he would become frustrated enough to eschew pursuing another term for the purpose of making a stand. Whatever the case, the possibilities are intriguing.
• The Road to Hell Is Paved with 'Electable' Candidates (By Joseph Ashby, American Thinker) The theory reminds me of when my mother observed that boys, in order to impress girls, tend to do things that impress other boys.  Similarly, politicos and pundits try to impress independents by doing things that other partisans perceive as independent.  But just as running fast, jumping high, and lifting heavy things often fail to impress would-be sweethearts on the second-grade playground, so too is the Establishment's premise often incorrect.

Hunting for Independents in New Hampshire

2012

• Huntsman: 'I'm running as a Republican' (By NBC's Jo Ling Kent, msnbc) ...not as an independent...
• Courting N.H. Independents, Huntsman Bills Himself as the Candidate to Unite the GOP (By Lindsey Boerma, National Journal) Hours before presidential front runner Mitt Romney took the stage at a Tea Party Express rally Sunday night in Concord, N.H., in an attempt to woo far-right conservatives, his fellow GOP candidate Jon Huntsman indicated to reporters in Alton Bay that he’d rather focus his time and resources on independents.
• Hopes Rising, G.O.P. Voters Seek a Winner (By ASHLEY PARKER and JEFF ZELENY, NY Times) For all the consternation among some party leaders about the strength of the field of candidates, the conversations with Republicans and independent voters revealed a sense of satisfaction at their array of choices. The interviews reflected a marked shift in the mood from only months ago, when many Republicans were openly skeptical that Mr. Obama could be defeated.
• What the Left Doesn’t Understand About Obama (By JONATHAN CHAIT, NY Times) Liberal critics of Obama, just like conservative critics of Republican presidents, generally want both maximal partisan conflict and maximal legislative achievement. In the real world, those two things are often at odds. Hence the allure of magical thinking.

Americans Don't Think the Federal Government Has 'Consent of the Governed'

Expect a Third-Party Candidate in 2012 - Ross Perot in 1992 and John Anderson in 1980 garnered exceptionally high levels of support.  (By PATRICK H. CADDELL And DOUGLAS E. SCHOEN, Wall Street Journal)  The United States is in the midst of what we would both call a prerevolutionary moment, and there is widespread support for fundamental change in the system. An increasing number of Americans are now searching beyond the two parties for bold and effective leadership.

A Rasmussen Reports poll conducted earlier this month found that "just 17% of likely U.S. voters think that the federal government today has the consent of the governed," while an extraordinary 69% "believe the government does not have that consent." 

2012

• The Democratic Jobs Debate As Mass Denial (Jonathan Chait, The New Republic) But his plan needs to be understood as a political strategy, not as a legislative strategy. The point of it is to propose something that is popular and which Obama can blame Republicans for blocking. There is no upside in blaming the opposition for blocking a bill that voters don't want to pass.
• Margin Favoring Repeal Hits 20 Points (By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON, The Weekly Standard/The Blog) If this news weren’t bad enough for the White House’s current occupant, independent voters are even less fond of Obamacare than voters as a whole. By a tally of 58 to 37 percent, independents support repeal. Among independents who feel “strongly” (either way), 49 percent support repeal, while only 21 percent oppose it — nearly one-half to barely one-fifth.
• Jay Carney: Obama helping African-Americans (By REID J. EPSTEIN, Politico)
• Cornyn: 'WH wishes' Huntsman would run as Independent (By Michael O'Brien, The Hill/Twitter Room) Cornyn, one of the GOP's campaign gurus who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), mused on Twitter that it would be in President Obama's interest for Huntsman to seek the presidency as an Independent candidate.
• Huntsman, best candidate for a third party (By LZ Granderson, CNN) But then I look at the field of Republican candidates and I just feel trapped, as our election process has become less about which candidate you prefer and more like which limb you want to cut off.
• Obama appeals to black voters amid criticism from lawmakers, rights leaders (in Cleveland Plain Dealer) "And it's important for us to make sure that we're following through on those commitments, even if it's slow and frustrating sometimes."

2012: What Are the Repubs To Do?

2012

• Paging Reasonable Republicans (Mark McKinnon, The Daily Beast) Long-shot presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is stirring the pot by challenging the far-right lunacy of the GOP primary race. Mark McKinnon says the grown-up talk is just what the party needs—and why it’s not too late for a reasonable conservative to jump in.
• Ex-NY Gov. Pataki mulls possible presidential run (Wall Street Journal, Associated Press) Among them are what Pataki considers Obama's lack of a serious plan to deal with the nation's debt, and Pataki's own moderate views that could attract independent voters in the important New Hampshire primary.

Utah Independents Give Huntsman 61 Percent Approval Rating

2012

Against Obama, Utahns favor Huntsman over Romney (Salt Lake Tribune/Political Cornflakes) Utah Democrats give Huntsman a 69 percent approval rating and independents offer him a 61 percent approval rating. The former Utah governor would rake in 28 percent of Democrats over Obama, the poll shows, and leads the president among independents by 39 points.

MSM Confusion About Independent Voters

When it comes to independent voters (now 38% of the electorate) all parties are confused, especially the MSM which makes its living these days by making up stories about indies. Rush Limbaugh is no exception! And apparently this confusion is seeping into Jon Huntsman's nascent presidential campaign - he is skipping Iowa, going heavy into New Hampshire and worried but optimistic about South Carolina, all because of his perception of indies and ideology... For a good read on this confusion, see Sarah Lyons' article "Independent Voter" Does Not Mean Moderate.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Complaint from an Independent (TRANSCRIPT The Rush Limbaugh Show) RUSH: I can understand why you would think that, and I said earlier in the program long before taking your call that my real complaint is not so much with the independents. I mean, you're who you are. My real beef is how you are portrayed; it is how you are characterized. You are characterized as unique and special. You're the smartest voters around.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• OPEN PRIMARY PRE-CLEARED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (by Damon Eris, CAIVN) The Department of Justice pre-cleared California’s top two open primary under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, thereby opening the way for the implementation of the new primary system statewide in next year’s elections. 
• In work on recalls, elections chief Kevin Kennedy battles charges of partisanship (JESSICA VANEGERENThe Capital Times: Your Progressive Voice - Madison WI) KK: People want to know how it is legal. But in Wisconsin, we don’t require that voters register by political party so you don’t have a mechanism for tying a candidate to a political party. The political parties really don’t control who runs on their ballot. There is no requirement that you have to be a member of a political party to run. And that goes back to the Bob La Follette era and the creation of open primaries.

2012

• Poll: 3 in 10 sure they'll vote Obama According to a new poll, 3 in 10 Americans say they are certain they will vote for Obama. (By JENNIFER EPSTEIN, Politico) Among likely independent voters, 23 percent say they are certain they will vote for Obama, while 36 percent say they are sure they will seek out another candidate.
• Indy voters bailing on O in new poll (POLITICO in Seattle Post Intelligencer)
• Soft-Spoken Huntsman Enters the GOP Race (By JONATHAN WEISMAN, Wall Street Journal) He won't contest the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, traditionally dominated by social conservatives. Instead, Mr. Huntsman will vie for the New Hampshire primary, where he believes independent voters will flood the polls for him.
• Mr. Independent (POLITICO in Seattle Post Intelligencer) In an interview with POLITICO, Huntsman made clear that he plans to capitalize on election rules in New Hampshire and South Carolina that allow independent voters to cast ballots in the GOP presidential primary.
• Huntsman sees independents as key (By: Kasie Hunt, Politico) But Huntsman’s focus on South Carolina puts a twist on that state’s primary, where the winner has gone on to be the GOP nominee in every presidential year since 1980. With its large number of social conservatives, South Carolina could prove to be hostile to Huntsman, whose moderate record and Mormon roots might prove difficult to overcome among evangelical Christian activists. His focus on independents who can vote there, however, could blunt both disadvantages at once, particularly if he can make inroads into the Low Country region around Charleston—the area targeted by both McCain and Romney in 2008.

2012: Obama, Huntsman, and the Indies

OBAMA
Fox News Poll: Mixed Views on Whether Bin Laden Raid Was Gutsy Call (By Dana Blanton, FoxNews.com) The president’s job rating jumped not only among Democrats and independents, but also among GOP voters. Some 19 percent of Republicans approve of the president’s performance in the new poll, up from 11 percent (April 25-27). Obama received a similar bump among his party faithful, as 88 percent of Democrats approve, up from 80 percent previously.

2012

• Jon Huntsman's moves trouble Utah (Politico) Huntsman’s recent decision to headquarter his campaign in Florida makes sense for logistical and political reasons but the location—and some recent remarks about his faith — have combined to produce a sharp reaction from the Mormon Establishment, solidifying the impression for many of the former governor’s constituents that he plans to keep his distance in more ways than one.
• President Obama to Address Arab Spring, 'Turn the Page' on Policy in Region (BY: DAVID CHALIAN AND TERENCE BURLIJ, PBS Newshour) And then there's New Hampshire, home to the country's first primary, where independent voters get to play, giving more centrist candidates an opportunity they may find elusive in Iowa. Beginning Thursday, Huntsman will embark on a five-day, 12-stop tour of the Granite State that could go a long way toward revealing just how compatible the two really are.

Independents Lead Fight for Structural Political Reform, State by State, Nationally

INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING

• The rigged game of redistricting (By John Avlon, Special to CNN) At least 15 states have citizens groups fighting for redistricting reform 
• People’s election (Salt Lake Tribune) We support this quiet insurgency. The caucus system, in which comparatively moderate Republicans such as Bob Bennett and Olene Walker — who are willing to work in a bipartisan fashion — can be ousted without the consent of a majority of Utah voters, should be changed. It creates a governing elite and contributes to Utah’s embarrassingly low voter turnout.
• Mathis: Engage voters in redistricting plan - Panel chair wants public connected to process of redrawing boundaries (by Mary Jo Pitzl, The Arizona Republic) Q: Why are you an independent? A: I like being able to approach things issue by issue. Being an independent allowed me the freedom to operate as I wanted.

PENNSYLVANIA INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• In Montco, 3,000+ improperly registered as independents (By Jeremy Roebuck, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER) Beginning in 2008, Hoeffel said, a (Montgomery) county employee added those names coming through without prior registrations to the voter rolls as independents because there were no party affiliations for them on file. The worker should have discarded them since they had never officially registered to vote in the first place, Hoeffel said.
• Looking for independent voters in Pennsylvania: Independent Pennsylvanians

COLORADO INDEPENDENTS

• Businesswoman announces run for Congress (By JEFF TUCKER, Pueblo Chieftain - Southern Colorado) Tisha Casida is running for Congress as an independent candidate.  "There are things I like about all the parties," she said in her announcement Friday. "But the problem is the two-party system is not doing anything to solve our current economic problems."
• Looking for independent voters in Colorado: Independent Voters for Colorado

UTAH CAUCUS SYSTEM

• News Analysis: A Political System for a Select Few? (By Con Psarras, KSL Salt Lake City) There's a lot of debate on the caucus system after it was used last year to boot Sen. Bob Bennett from his incumbency. On one hand, it was a sterling example of how citizens can mobilize and be self-empowered to the point of knocking a three-term senator off the convention dais. On the other hand, it may have also been a textbook case of how the nominating system can be overtaken by a well-organized contingent whose views are not necessarily in sync with the party or the population as a whole.
• Looking for independent voters in Utah: Utah League of Independent Voters

NEW YORK

• Procedural Victory in New York Vote-Counting Case (Ballot Access News) On May 10, U.S. District Court Judge JedRakoff issued an 18-page opinion in Conservative Party v Walsh, southern district, 10 cv-6923. This is the lawsuit in which the Conservative Party of New York, the Working Families Party of New York, and the Taxpayers Party, sued to overturn a discriminatory New York state election policy on counting votes.
• Cuomo: NY Legislature doesn't want ethics reform (AP, Wall Street Journal) In a news conference later, he said, "If a law is not passed, then I will appoint a Moreland Commission," a reference to an historic anti-corruption panel. "It is unacceptable to have no progress on ethics." He said if an ethics bill isn't passed by the June 20 end of the legislative session, he will appoint an investigative commission.
• Donors to G.O.P. Are Backing Gay Marriage Push (By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and MICHAEL BARBARO, NY Times) The donors represent some of New York’s wealthiest and most politically active figures and include Paul E. Singer, a hedge fund manager and top-tier Republican donor, as well as two other financiers, Steven A. Cohen and Clifford S. Asness. At the same time, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a billionaire businessman and philanthropist who has been a major contributor to Senate Republicans in New York, plans a significant push for same-sex marriage: giving at least $100,000 of his own money, hosting a fund-raiser at an Upper East Side town house, traveling to Albany to lobby lawmakers and giving a speech on the issue.
• Conservative Republicans bankrolling gay marriage campaign in New York (By Scot Kersgaard, Colorado Independent) The Colorado Independent in the past has drawn attention to the fact that Barbara Bush has cut a video supporting the measure. Turns out, though that GOP support for freedom and liberty in New York could be more than a dog bits man sort of story. It could be the story.
• Looking for independent voters in New York: New York City Organizations of the Independence Party of New York

2012
Huntsman seeks to break into GOP pack - Former Utah governor to make first N.H. swing (By Matt Viser, Boston Globe) As Huntsman edges closer to a presidential run, he shares another similarity: an early strategy that emphasizes the influential moderate and independent voters in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire.

MEDIA & POLLS
INDEPENDENT-MINDED VOTER SAMPLE LARGELY MIA IN POST-BIN LADEN AP POLL (by Christopher A. Guzman, CAIVN)

INDEPENDENT CULTURE/ YOUTH
Ben Vereen To Attend Charity Talent Show (Look to the Stars) “The All Stars is taking the arts into the community and developing a bridge that allows us to see a better way to a future for all of us. When All Stars comes into the poor community, opportunity is built.” states Ben Vereen who was recently awarded the All Stars Project’s 2011 Bridge Building Award for Leadership in Community Relations.

Independent Voters, 2012, and Party Insiders

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
GOP leaders likely to drop social issues in budget compromise (BY DAVID LIGHTMAN, Miami Herald) "There's a Republican economic agenda, and there's a social agenda. The problem for the party is that independents by and large do not share the social agenda," said Steven Smith, the director of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis.

PARTY INSIDERS V. PROP 14
Race for Congress: No Candidate Gains California Democratic Party Endorsement - None of the Democratic candidates in the upcoming election for a vacant seat in Congress are going to be officially endorsed by the California Democratic Party. (By Paul Chavez, Hermosa Beach Patch)

2012
Jon Huntsman, the rock 'n' roll years (By: Ben Smith and Kasie Hunt, Politico) Huntsman’s conventional ascent began in 1987, when he graduated from the Wharton School of Business, went to work for the family manufacturing giant, and moved between top industry and government posts. People who know him, however, say his unconventional appeal was crafted in the nine previous years, beginning in 1978, the year he left Highland High School without enough credits to graduate.

NEW YORK
Mike's maneuvers fail in Albany, NYC (By ERIK ENGQUIST and JEREMY SMERD, Crain's New York) The state budget that passed last week contained nothing from his wish list: no changes to the teacher seniority rule known as last-in, first-out; no relief from the $600 million “Christmas bonuses” that the city must pay retired police officers and firefighters annually; and not a dime of the city's former $300 million state revenue-sharing allocation, for the second straight year.

NORTH CAROLINA
GOP must balance agenda with desire to win re-election (By Paul Woolverton, Fayyetteville Observer) Out of North Carolina's 6 million registered voters, 2.7 million are Democrats - or 45 percent. About 1.9 million voters are Republican. And 1.45 million belong to no party. That means roughly 25 percent of the voters are unaffiliated.

Jon Huntsman Could Attract Independents in 2012 Presidential Run

2012
Huntsman campaign assembled, candidate needed (Philip Elliott - The Associated Press, Daily Herald - Provo UT) Huntsman could attract independents and centrists while the other candidates fight over -- and split the vote of -- conservatives who dominate GOP primaries. His support of civil unions for gay couples and belief in humans' role in climate change, not to mention his time in the Obama administration, could enrage the party's powerful right wing or alienate tea party voters.
NOTE: This article was widely published nationally including Washington Post and Forbes