TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

YOUTH VOTE

Why the Youth Vote Is the Big Story -- For 2008 and for Decades to Come (Eric Greenberg and Karl Weber, Huffington Post) It seems doubtful that the impressive success of the Democratic get-out-the-vote effort, which had so much impact in such swing states as Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, would have been possible without Obama's army of Millennials.

POLITISOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS

• Religion & American politics: This is our moment, this is our time (by Robert Bellah, Social Science Research Council) For the reasons I have just suggested, radical individualism is what I call the default mode of American culture.  It is where we go when things are relatively stable and we face no enormous challenge, or are denying that we do.  It is the power of this core tradition that has given rise to American exceptionalism, what makes us so different from most other advanced nations in the world, none of which share this strand to the same extent.
  
• Obama's Grand Bargain - The principles and promise of Obamaism. (By Bruce Reed, Slate) While pragmatism has been a hallmark of most successful presidencies, post-partisanship is mostly uncharted territory. As Ron Brownstein writes in his history of partisan division, a president is the only person in Washington with the power to disrupt the inexorable, bipartisan slide toward partisanship for its own sake.
  

NEW YORK POLITICS/INDEPENDENCE PARTY

• Not so democratic - Jeers for the cross-endorsement deal (Newsday) Call it the Full Employment for Politicians But Limited Choice for Voters Act of 2009. Actually, it's not a law at all, just a convenient agreement among political leaders that leaves you with no real choice for three countywide offices.
  
• With Nod to History, Bloomberg Sees Recovery (By DAVID W. CHEN, NY Times) And as is often the case, Mr. Bloomberg tried to cast himself as an independent and nontraditional politician.
  
• Full text of Mayor Bloomberg's State of the City Speech (by Staten Island Advance) We will get New York City through these hard times with the same approach that has always worked for us. Independent leadership based on facts and pragmatism - not politics and ideology. Innovative thinking that embraces new solutions to old problems - and an insistence on accountability, always.
  

THIRD PARTY POLITICS

• Top Independent Candidates for U.S. House in 2008 (Ballot Access News) Comment: Lesson to third parties and independents: Run someone who is respected and has name recognition.
  
• The Minnesota Recount Was Unconstitutional (By MICHAEL STOKES PAULSEN, Wall Street Journal) If Messrs. Franken and Coleman agreed, an absentee ballot could be counted. Either campaign could veto a vote. Dean Barkley of the Independence Party, who ran third, was not included in this process. Thus, citizens' right to vote -- the right to vote! -- was made subject to political parties' gaming strategies.
  

CULTURAL

• Obama memorabilia displayed in homes (Deborah Netburn, LA Times) For some, the idea of having a pictorial representation of a national leader in one's living space brings to mind communist mandates of the 1950s. The home is the place for family portraits, or art that defines one's tastes. So when Obama shows up next to a landscape painting of the old summer home by Uncle Max, one might wonder if displaying a picture of the president is an invasion of politics in what should be a propaganda-free space.
  
• The Big Blue Wall (Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic) Since his days at the Los Angeles Times, Brownstein has been a principal expositor of the idea that electoral coalitions are built around and sustained by culture, rather than economic well-being. 
  

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Neoconservatism in the Obama Age (BY PATRICK KREY, The New American) This dynamic of neocons versus liberal interventionists seems to be along the lines of good cop vs. bad cop. Both parties want the same result, but they play opposing roles to con the third party (in this case, independent voters) into trusting them even though they both share the same goals. And when you really think about it: what is the difference between a neocon and a liberal war hawk anyway? Not much of a difference at all considering that neocons were liberal war hawks a few decades ago.
  
• Lawmakers lay out agendas for 2009 legislative session (By MIKE DENNISON and CHARLES S. JOHNSON, Helena MT - Independent Record State Bureau) "I don't think either one of these political parties ought to get too full of themselves," he said in a brief interview Monday afternoon. "For either one of these parties to say we are a Republican state or a Democratic state, I think it's maybe a little delusional. "We are a state of independent thinkers and independent voters. I think it's only appropriate for people to disagree."
  
• Trans-Texas Corridor Dead or in a Coma? (by ljcurtis, Independent Texans) They pledge to scale the project back to 600 (rather than 1,200 foot Corridors), and to slow the process down. This is a good start, but it’s clear they are still intent on the public-private partnership toll facilities that we’ve found so objectionable as they take money from transportation sending profits to investors, rather than plowing those funds back in to transportation needs, including the increasing need for public transit in metropolitan areas.
  

POLITISOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS

• Whatever Obama accomplishes, his election was a breakthrough (BY DAVID LIGHTMAN AND WILLIAM DOUGLAS, Miami Herald) It's hardly unusual for a new president to be hailed as the harbinger of a new era, and sometimes he is. Ronald Reagan put a conservative stamp on government that lasted for decades. Bill Clinton practiced a centrist form of Democratic politics that may influence Obama. And eight years ago, George W. Bush political guru Karl Rove spoke of forging a political realignment that would assure Republicans majorities for years to come - though elections in 2006 and 2008 seem to have interrupted, if not shattered, that vision.
  
• Fiscal conservativism is a movement without a party (SCOTT ST. CLAIR - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD) So rather than hope for table scraps from a political party - a hope upon which we will starve - fiscal conservatives work to reach the minds and touch the hearts of people. One way is through the work of 500 free-market think tanks around the world.
  

MINNESOTA INDEPENDENCE PARTY

• What About Minnesota? (Washington Post)  Either of these systems is vastly preferable to the baroque and unreliable recount process under which Minnesota elections now operate.
  
• Endless Vote Recounting Tests Minnesota Niceness (By KIRK JOHNSON, St. Paul Journal in NY Times/The Caucus) "I actually lost my patience before the election," said Adam Nedry, who so disliked the mudslinging campaigns by both Mr. Coleman and Mr. Franken that he voted for the Independence Party candidate, Dean Barkley.
  
• We will have better senators with instant runoff voting (by Richard Taylor, Denver Forgotten Communities Examiner) Instant-runoff voting has been tried in municipalities in the United States. It should be tried in statewide elections. 
  

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• How the Independent Movement Went Left by Going Right (by Jacqueline Salit, Executive Editor of The Neo-Independent magazine, Huffington Post) This article was also posted on The Moderate Voice and Independent Political Report
  
• Lisa Guerriero: Let's see what you can do, Obama (By Lisa Guerriero/ Off Deadline, Salem Gazette) No matter how committed he is to change, Obama's not going to fix the economy, end poverty and solve the conflicts in the Middle East in his first year in office — if at all. It's just not that simple.
  
• Moderate Republicans may be in big demand in Senate (By Janet Hook, LA Times) "The power of moderates is declining in the country: They are fewer in number and the country has polarized," said Thomas F. Schaller; Swing voters have been alienated by President Bush's policies and perceptions that the Republican Party is dominated by extremists.
  

LOCAL INDEPENDENT NEWS

• OK: New sheriff in town (Ada Evening News, Talina Turner Managing Editor) A bill which would allow Independents to vote in primary elections at a specific party's invitation is up for introduction in the 2009 Oklahoma Legislative session.
  
• MN: A conclusion draws near in the Minnesota Senate race (Independent Political Report) That "other" category is mostly Dean Barkley, the Minnesota Independence Party candidate for US Senate this November.  He got more than 15% of the vote.
  

BOOK REVIEW

Review: 'Sweet Land of Liberty' by Thomas J. Sugrue (BY DAVID L. CHAPPELL, Special to Newsday) The election of Barack Obama - whose biography unifies Third World immigrant and hardscrabble prairie pioneer, black and white - calls into question the rigid dichotomies that have defined the American conflict over inequality. Thomas Sugrue's evocative and richly documented new book, "Sweet Land of Liberty," is well timed because it addresses the most blinding and fundamental of these dichotomies, that between the southern land of slavery and Jim Crow and the ill-defined rest of the country (the part Obama comes from).

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Upcoming Events in The Legal Community (Brooklyn Eagle) Dec. 4, Public Forum: Open Primaries, the Problem or the Solution? 6 p.m. NYC Independence Party attorney Harry Kresky and CUIP President Jackie Salit will speak in favor of open primaries
  
• Will the RNC Push for 'Closed' Presidential Primaries? (Human Events)
• Governor Schwarzenegger: Please Don’t Declare 2009 the Year of Anything (Frank Russo, California Progress Report) There is now talk of an “open primary” as if that is a panacea for our problems. If this is the kind of ethereal pursuits our Governor focuses on and he is unwilling to tackle the real problems our state faces that are difficult to solve, we will have precisely what Professor Murray Edelman wrote about in, "The Symbolic Uses of Politics"--a symbolic gesture that is a lot easier to achieve and will make people feel good.

LOCAL INDEPENDENT NEWS

• Working Families Party boosts vote count (New Britain Herald News - CT) After a change in the state’s election laws last year made it easier for parties to cross-endorse candidates, a Working Families line appeared on every ballot this year.
• Marion County election demographics (Salem Monthly - OR) While the registered Democrats outnumber the Republicans, the unaffiliated voters easily could have been the deciding votes in some of the closer races.
• Change is essential (Lower Hudson Journal News) Those who refuse to register with any party are now the fastest growing group of voters in many districts. These voters represent a huge opportunity for a new Republican Party willing and able to meet their needs and tap into their frustration.
• How to have minor parties that are more than spoilers (Minneapolis Star Tribune) A little more than a hundred years ago, Minnesota and the rest of the nation allowed third parties to grow without simply being spoilers. The process is called fusion politics.

CENTER-LEFT PRAGMATICS

• America transformed (Eugene Robinson, The Detroit News) It's meaningless to argue whether ours is a center-left or center-right polity; the midpoint of the nation's political spectrum is, by definition, center-center. Ronald Reagan took office as the whole spectrum was moving to the right, and he pushed it further in that direction. Obama was elected as the spectrum was shifting back to the left, and he will try to give it a helping shove.
• Obama's historic moment (Philadelphia Daily News) Thus far, Obama refuses to be a prisoner of party ideology, admitting that he' be "happy to adopt ideas that work, whether they come from FDR or Reagan."
• Obama's change: minor or major? Our policies will change: Will our values, too? (Christian Science Monitor) Clearly then, Obama's values have American roots. The question, however, is whether these values are necessarily American. If people view pragmatism, pluralism, and positive human rights – which include the right to healthcare – as American values, they will see Obama as an inspiring agent for Change 2. But if they think these values are inimical to true American values, say, of personal responsibility, strict property rights, and limited government, they will fear Obama as an agent for Change 1.

LAST WORD(S)
Busty Bimbettes, Bombs and Brand Obama (CounterPunch)
Enough of 'Barbituate' Left Cynicism, Obama Is a Victory over White Supremacy (By Tim Wise, Red Room/AlterNet)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

SELECT ELECTION ANALYSIS

• 2008 Presidential Election (Omar Ali on Open Line News Channel 5, Nashville) VIDEO
• How the President-Elect Did It - The new voters changed the game. (By KARL ROVE, Wall Street Journal)
• Tuesday's Second Biggest Winner: Democracy (Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post)
• Generation Obama (The Moderate Voice)
• Talking to Nader about the Campaign, on November 5. (Alexander Cockburn, CounterPunch)
• A Few Afterthoughts (Marc Cooper)
• Congratulations, President Obama! (Mirror on America)
• The Children Are Watching America makes history, but the mandate is for moderation. (By PEGGY NOONAN, Wall Street Journal)
• Sixth time’s the charm (Spynotes)

MINNESOTA INDEPENDENCE PARTY Is the Independence Party ready to move beyond Ventura and Barkley? (MinnPost)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

OREGON MEASURE 65

• Where party still counts (Albany Democrat Herald) The initiative would have done away with partisan primaries, but Democrats and Republicans in Linn County say they like the present system just fine, a system in which the taxpayers foot the bill for the selection of party candidates while excluding people who refuse to identify themselves as either an R or a D.
• Making more sense of our elections (The Oregonian) Unlike Measure 65, the "top two" election system that Oregonians overwhelmingly rejected at the polls this week, instant-runoff voting has a track record of success and was used most recently in Pierce County (Tacoma) in Washington to elect the county executive and other officeholders.

CAMPAIGN

• GOP stalwarts shun tradition, switch votes; "With neighbor-to-neighbor grass roots organizing, we made inroads into smaller, more conservative counties across the state," he said. "We just felt we could make significant ground there, turning out new voters in record numbers and making a strong push for independent voters who had been turned off by the Bush economy for the last eight years." (Toledo Blade)
• Nevada Voter Turnout Near 1 Million (Las Vegas Now KLAS) Obama also captured a majority of independent voters in Nevada or those not affiliated with the two major parties. 54-percent of them went for Obama, compared to 41-percent for John McCain.
• Obama Victory Good for America (HULIQ) Barack Obama did the same thing as Reagan. He ran as a leftist. Instead of trying to grab the independent voters he just offered change.
• Costa Mesans vote for Obama (Daily Pilot) Baugh thinks Obama is clever enough to know that if he yanks the country too far to the left he will hurt himself with independent voters and could get punished in the mid-term elections.
• WAS THE "MAVERICK" TOO MODERATE TO WIN? (Town Hall) This logic suggests that candidates fare better when they display ideological rigor and consistency, and that Republicans can never succeed by going after moderate and independent votes.
• Electoral Consequences Big & Small (America/The National Catholic Weekly) Obama won the presidency by winning among Independent voters, voters who by definition resist partisan labels. Having to cross with 60-vote threshold with centrist Republican votes will help him beat back political pressures on the far left of the Democratic Party.

MINNESOTA INDEPENDENCE PARTY

• Recount: The Coleman-Franken brawl drags on (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
• Senate candidate Dean Barkley urges supporters to continue support of Independence Party (HometownSource)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

CAMPAIGN

• Obama's America (Detroit News) We're seeing perhaps the rise of Independent America -- voters who are going blue sometimes, sometimes not, but who are certainly thinking for themselves outside of ideological boxes.
• Growing independent population key to Central Florida, parties say (Daily Commercial) In Sumter, the number of independent voters has increased modestly; they represent about 17 percent of the registered voter share compared to about 14 percent in 2000.
• Early vote very Democratic (THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH) So far, 42,498, or nearly half, of the county's 88,374 registered Republicans have requested to vote by mail versus one in three, or 73,292, of the 210,729 Democrats registered and 92,055, about one in five, of the county's 547,240 unaffiliated voters requested absentee ballots sent to their homes.
• A Primer On Election Demographics (Forbes) This month, based on the conference papers, the Brookings Institution Press published Red, Blue & Purple America: The Future of Election Demographics.
• Economy, war top list for Ohio's key swing voters (Cleveland Plain Dealer) Ohio has 8.3 million voters registered for Nov. 4, a record. The latest figures show 2.3 million registered Democrats (28 percent) and 1.5 million registered Republicans (17 percent). The majority, 4.5 million or 55 percent, are unaffiliated voters, meaning they did not cast a ballot in the most recent primary.
• Why is N.C. up for grabs? Consider the newcomers--Voter registrations are also skewing to Democrats. North Carolinas has registered more than 780,000 new voters this year, 48 percent of them Democrats, 22 percent Republicans and the rest unaffiliated. So far in early voting, which began Oct. 16, more than 700,000 people have gone to the polls – 60 percent Democrats, 24 percent Republicans and the rest unaffiliated. (Charlotte Observer)

INDEPENDENCE PARTY

• Minnesota Independence Party Makes No Endorsement for President (Ballot Access News) This outcome represents a setback for Frank MacKay, state chair of the New York Independence Party.
• No endorsement from Minnesota Independence Party (Minneapolis Star Tribune) Democrat Barack Obama's campaign had pulled out of consideration earlier.

BLOOMBERG/TERM LIMITS
Mayor Michael Bloomberg's '09 run may be on Democrat line for third term (Daily News/Daily Politics) Bloomberg aides have indicated the Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent mayor would likely run on a third party line of his own creation in 2009 if the term limits extension he pushed through the City Council last week holds up in court.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• CO: Party gap closing within county (The Coloradoan) New Democrat registrations since July totaled 13,672, while Republicans had 10,136. The number of new unaffiliated voters - 15,684 - outpaced fresh registrations for both parties.
• CT: New Voters Stepping Forward To Make History (The Day) Ten percent of registered voters, or nearly 220,000 people, have registered since Jan 1. Of those, about 95,000 registered as unaffiliated voters, followed by 93,000 Democrats and 29,000 Republicans. The largest group of registered voters in Connecticut is unaffiliated, followed by Democrats and then Republicans.

OPEN PRIMARY

• Election 2008: Better primaries for Oregon (The Oregonian) Measure 65 is a rational response to a closed, overly partisan system.
• Open the primaries (LETTER TO News Press, Ft. Myers FL) In a national open primary the whole country would have a say. I resent that a minority tell me who I can and cannot vote for.

CAMPAIGN

• Rich like both candidates (Investment News) Among wealthy independent voters, 55% said that they favored Mr. Obama, compared with 34% who preferred his opponent.
• New York Poll Released by Rasmussen Reports: Barack Obama 57%, John McCain 37% (Transworld News) Among unaffiliated voters in New York, Obama leads 47% to 39%.
• Connecticut Poll Released by Rasmussen Reports: Barack Obama 56%, John McCain 39% (Transworld News) Obama leads among unaffiliated voters 49% to 42%.
• Oregon Poll Released by Rasmussen Reports: Barack Obama 54%, John McCain 41% (Transworld News) Obama has a 23-point lead among unaffiliated voters in the state.
• Early Voting Up Big In North Carolina (By Justin Gardner, Donklephant) Across the state, Democrats showed the most first-day enthusiasm. Of the nearly 114,000 first-day voters, 64 percent were Democrats, 21 percent Republicans and 15 percent were unaffiliated.

DOWN BALLOT
Latest Polls Show Coleman Trails Franken, Barkley with 20 percent (Minneapolis News Examiner)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

OPEN PRIMARIES
Editorial: It should always be about electing the best candidate (Wallowa County Chieftain) Roberts is mired historically in a two-party system which no longer exists. She also overlooks the fact that half a million Oregonians have chosen to register as Independents despite the fact that the current law disenfranchises them in primary elections.

CAMPAIGN

• In survey, independents back Biden (Allentown PA Morning Call) 69 percent of independents sided with Biden.
• Palin gets the style points and a slim win over Biden (NY Daily News) With the race among independent voters becoming a referendum on the economic meltdown, the McCain-Palin ticket is sinking as fast as the stock market.
• Obama gains 22-point lead over McCain in New York (AM New York) Obama leads McCain 58 percent to 36 percent, increasing his lead among Democrats and now leading with independent voters by 15 points, after he was tied among independents in the last Siena poll.
• Every registered voter counts this year-Independents are the target (KRNV Channel 4) Both parties are focusing their campaign efforts primarily on the 31,000 independent voters that could tip the scale in their favor.
• The Tina Fey Effect (The Weekly Standard, Gary Andres) Independents are also among the most volatile groups in tracking surveys because they lack party attachments and listen to the “loudest voice in the cafeteria,” as University of Maryland political scientist Jim Gimpel likes to say.
• Obama surges back in NY (Albany Times Union/Capitol Confidential) Obama now leads with independent voters by 15 points, after being tied among independents in the last Siena poll.
• Whose Palin? (The American Conservative) The old Buchanan Brigades now ride to the sound of the neocon guns.

THIRD PARTIES
POLL: Sen. Coleman pulls head with 10-point lead (KSTP) Barkley does surprisingly well again, registering 19 points.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

OPEN/CLOSED PRIMARIES

• Party controls outcome (The Leaf Chronicle) It came as a shock to a number of voters in Cheatham, Houston and Montgomery counties that a political party could overturn primary election results. [NOTE: To echo one commenter, Shocked? We're shocked you're shocked, sir! Voters are not in the least "shocked" by this behavior by a political party!!]
• Voter registration opens up again in Del. (The News Journal) many registered Republican and independent voters chose to change to the Democratic Party for the gubernatorial primaries.

CRAZY CAMPAIGN POLL FRENZY

• NJ: McCain narrows Obama's lead in N.J., poll finds (Courier Post online) Independent voters are split 38 percent for Obama and 37 percent for McCain.
• PA: Obama descends on Pennsylvania to woo key voters-Eyes women, independents; surrogates on Palin attack (Washington Times)
• IA: Obama establishes double-digit lead in Iowa poll (Oskaloosa Herald) Des Moines Register poll says independent voters helping Obama
• OH: Obama cuts McCain's lead in new poll (Columbus Dispatch/Road to Washington) Obama is winning independent voters, so the 12-point "loyalty gap" is a difference-maker.
• US: Electoral Map Looks Similar To 2004, 2000- Washington Post: Obama Still Seeks To Expand Battleground, But Familiar States Expected To Once Again Be Key To Victory (CBS News-Washingtonpost.com) New Hampshire took a sharp turn toward the Democrats two years ago, but McCain's popularity there could offset that advantage. New Hampshire strategists said over the weekend that independent voters, whom both McCain and Obama courted during their respective primaries, will decide the outcome in November, particularly the more than 100,000 independents who did not vote in either primary.
• PA: State of the race (Lancaster Online) Independent voters are split nearly evenly, 45 percent for McCain and 44 percent for Obama.

THIRD PARTY NEWS

• Libertarian National Committee in a deadlock over how to address growing Bob Barr controversies (Mens News Daily) Barr refused to attend Ron Paul's Rally for the Republic [see part of Jesse Ventura's address at the top of The Hankster. Most Americans think independent candidates should be in the debates. Rockthedebates.org tells the story...]
• Dean Barkley’s candidacy and what it means in 2008 (Minnesota Daily)
• Barack Obama Will Only be on Democratic Line in South Carolina (Ballot Access News) Obama refuses IP and other lines offered
• Federal Court Holds Hearing on Lawsuit to Remove McCain from California Ballot (Ballot Access News) The leading precedent on who has standing to challenge the ballot access of a major party nominee is Fulani v Hogsett, 917 F 2d 1028 (7th cir., 1990). It said that Lenora Fulani did have standing to challenge the ballot placement of George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis, since their presidential elector candidates had been filed after the legal deadline in Indiana.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Who Are Independents And What Do They Want? (Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic)

REFORM
Open Primaries in Oregon?-An Initiative for Open Primaries Will Be on the November Ballot (Associated Content)

MAYOR BLOOMBERG GOES TO MINNEAPOLIS

• NY mayor in Twin Cities, says good things about McCain, Obama (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
• Bloomberg, on a Visit to Minneapolis, Urges Independents to Organize for Clout (NY Times) Mr. Bloomberg criticized the electoral process in places like New York City, where only those who are registered as Republicans or Democrats can participate in the primaries. He said the system essentially disenfranchises some 700,000 voters and gives undue clout to special-interest groups like labor unions.
• NYC mayor making the rounds in Twin Cities (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
• Bloomberg: No endorsement yet in presidential race (USA Today)
• Bloomberg withholds presidential endorsement (Minnesota Public Radio)
• MIKE: NIX $$ FOR PRIMARIES (NY Post)
• Bloomberg Declines To Endorse In Minnesota (CBS News/Horserace)
• Bloomberg Praises McCain, Obama (Washington Independent)
• Independent to the last, Bloomberg criticizes primaries, won't pick pres (DAILY NEWS)
• Bloomberg Told to Cool Pro-McCain Rhetoric (ABC News/Political Radar) The chairman of the Independence Party of Minnesota tells ABC News on Friday that his party members complained to him after he told the press Thursday that Mike Bloomberg's aides had signaled that the New York mayor was planning to use a Friday speech in Minneapolis to praise Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

REFORM

• Redistricting Initiative May Hurt Latinos, Blacks (Bell Gardens Sun - CA)


• EDITORIAL: Redistricting threatens incumbents (By North County Times)


• Reform proposal faces lawsuit-Group asks court to keep plan that would bring 28 sweeping changes to state constitution off ballot. (Detroit News)


• Nader to ask Pa. court to reopen presidential nomination case (Philadelphia Inquirer)


• All candidates should have access to ballot (News Herald - OH)

CAMPAIGN

• McCain gaining ground on Obama in Michigan, several other states (DETROIT FREE PRESS)


• Today's Polls: McCain's Gaining, But Why? (The New Republic/The Plank)


• FOX News Poll: No Bounce for Obama From Overseas Trip (Fox News)

MINNESOTA INDEPENDENCE PARTY

• Report: Bloomberg to tout McCain (NY Newsday) speaking at Minn IP fundraiser


• Bloomberg Calls for Action on U.S. Infrastructure (NY Sun)


• The Independence Party -- the party of what might have been (MinnPost)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

CAMPAIGN
New G.O.P. Ad for McCain on Energy (NY Times/The Caucus) McCain the Maverick

REFORM

• Legitimate basis exists for open primary voting (Delaware online/The News Journal)
• Editorial: A lot of money is needed to fight redistricting lies (Mercury News Editorial)
• Run-off voting system would be beneficial (LETTER Kennebec Journal)

MINNESOTA INDEPENDENCE PARTY
Ventura watch: Does Bloomberg visit suggest a Senate run? (Minnesota Independent)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Idaho independents file intervention in closed primary lawsuit (Associated Press - KTVB)
• Committee for a United Independent Party Asks to Intervene in Idaho Republican Closed Primary Lawsuit (Ballot Access News)
• Shifting Stands: Is That Real Change? (LETTER NY Times) Independent activist Fran Miller in response to Krugman oped
• Independent voters can lead (LETTER Florida Times Union Jacksonville) doesn't want Democrats in office
• Joe not the boost McCain needs in state (Connecticut Post) Strikingly, Lieberman appears to hurt McCain among independent voters in the state.
• Joe Lieberman's Potential 2012 Dilemma (NY Observer/Politicker)
• Catholic voters: A somewhat contradictory statistical look (The Tidings) The CARA study of 1,007 Catholic voters found 41 percent unaffiliated with either the Democratic Party or Republican Party
• Voter registration surges in Georgia, North Carolina (Southern Sudies/Facing South) Democrats have gone from 44.8% to 45.3%, and unaffiliated voters from 20.9% to 21.4% since January.

CAMPAIGN * Obama's Move to the Center (Examiner.com)

PARTY BUSINESS

• Minnesota Independence party enlists Mayor Bloomberg (Minnesota Public Radio)
• Bloomberg brings taste of Big Apple to Independence Party fundraiser (Associated Press - Minneapolis Star Tribune)
• Rochester Billionaire Targets Silver With New PAC (NY Sun)
  

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Have you noticed Jesse Ventura on the talk shows lately posing as the "independent"? He's got a book out.... And then there's Dean Barkley who's being backed by a major party consultant... Meanwhile a little-known upstate New York pol (the one trying to dictate to NYC independents) posing as the "leader" of a national network of independents, meets with McCain and waits for Mayor Bloomberg to weigh in on who he should endorse..... Hmmm... And lest we forget, there's still Joe Lieberman.... --NH

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

NORTH CAROLINA

• Democrats, independents surge in WNC (Asheville Citizen Times) independents gained nearly 2.2 percent statewide
• Gubernatorial primaries take back seat to presidential race (AP Google) North Carolina has 5.8 million registered voters, a 13 percent increase over 2004. Those figures include 1.2 million unaffiliated or independent voters, many of whom are expected to vote in the Democratic primary. Black voter registration has also spiked in North Carolina, up 19 percent from 2004 to 1.2 million.
• A little homework, planning will make voting easy (Asheville Citizen Times) Know your rights: If you make a mistake on your ballot, you can ask for another one. If you’re registered as Unaffiliated, you can ask to receive the primary ballot of either party. If you’re an ex-felon, you can register and vote if you’ve served all parts of your sentence, including probation.

WEST VIRGINIA

• Registered voters hit record numbers (Parkersburg News and Sentinel) ‘‘You must request the ballot when they come to the table,’’
• Voter registration hits record level (Huntington Herald Dispatch)
• SurveyUSA Poll in Indiana shows Obama 2 points ahead of Clinton among independents (SurveyUSA)
• West Virginia’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Policy for Voters (Alternet) The West Virginia Secretary of State's office and county election offices in the state are refusing to tell independent voters arriving to early vote at the state's 55 voting locations that they are entitled to vote in its Democratic or Republican primary, stating that they are forbidden to do so by law.
• West Virginia Secretary of State Disenfranchising Thousands of Obama Voters? (by: Matt Stoller, Open Left)

OREGON * As deadline looms, residents registering in droves to vote (The Register-Guard) Independent Party of Oregon also has seen significant growth [in Lane County], nearly doubling in size from 921 to 1,651 members since December 2007. [Updated 12:15pm]

MINNESOTA INDEPENDENCE PARTY * Three-way, anyone? Independence party vet Dean Barkley mulls US Senate run (Minnesota Monitor)

FEATURE * Jeremiah, Obama, and Roman Catholics (Commonweal Magazine) "I would also ask whether the Catholic Church has an “African-American problem.” "

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• California early voting: 42% voted by mail in 2006 (San Diego Union Tribune)
• Hillary Clinton's downfall? (NJ.com blog)
• Will 2008’s Choice Be Between “Fear And Loathing?” (By Joe Gandelman - The Moderate Voice) Andrew Sullivan's article here in The Atlantic)
• Paul Expects to Raise More Than $12 Million in Fourth Quarter (Bloomberg.com)
• In the Frontrunner Game, is it good to be Second? (The Caucus/New York Times)
• Was Ross Perot Right about NAFTA? (By David Sirota - TruthDig)
• lib*er*tar*ian (Washington Post by those guys at reason magazine)
• Obama vs. the Icon (By David S. Broder - Washington Post)
• Minnesota: Ritchie dispute cloaks a deeper partisan enmity-"I found him to be very supportive of nonpartisan stuff. I just feel like he's done a very good job of reaching out to all the parties," said Craig Swaggert, head of the Independence Party of Minnesota. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
• Virginia Independent to Run for Congress (ABC 7 News - Fredericksburg Free Lance Star)
• A nonpartisan political race for Lance Armstrong? (The Dallas Morning News)

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TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• New Oregon Independent Party is state's fastest-growing (Statesman Journal)
• 1994 Redux: The Consequences of Dems' New NAFTA (David Sirota-Huffington Post)
• Clinton's Familiar Third Rail-AARP debate report (Washington Post)
• Schwarzenegger says independent voters are key (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE)
• Schwarzenegger tells GOP faithful to court independents (KGET - San Diego)
• Polls look bad for Kinky Dem run (Waco Tribune)
• Minnesota stands out in the Midwest for the strong showings third party candidates (Hometown Source)
• Ohio Court Ducks Issue of Who Can Circulate Petitions (Ballot Access News)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• New Hampshire independents choosing Dem primary since McCain's defection...
• Georgia independents coming out of the woodwork
• Indiana Elections board removes Highland town councilman from fall ballot
• Cindy Sheehan to lead rallies in Charlotte (News 14)
• Arnold's independent card, California's voters
• Minnesota Independence Party's Dean Barkley toying with the idea of running