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

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• CUIP Wins the Right to Intervene in Idaho Republican Case (Ballot Access News) Independents have legal standing as defendants in effort to exclude independents from primary
• Democrats gain ground, but GOP still rules in AZ (Arizona Star) And the number and share of those not interested in affiliating with any of the recognized parties went up by nearly 94,000. They now total more than 27.1 percent of eligible voters, and they will be eligible to vote in Tuesday's primary, under a state law that allows them to select which party's primary they want to participate in.

REFORM
Gerrymandering a key culprit in California budget mess-Proposition 11, which would strip the Legislature of its power to draw state Senate and Assembly district lines, is desperately needed. (George Skelton, Capitol Journal, LA Times)


THIRD PARTY NEWS

• Alaskan Independence Party Does Well in Blanket Primary (Ballot Access News)
• What happened to Pat in 2000?-Third Partyism (NorCal Council of Concervative Citizens) Russ Verney once chaired the New Hampshire Democratic Party and secretary Jim Mangia was a (albeit fairly moderate and low-key) gay-rights activist..... He also should have not have gotten involved with Lenora Fulani.
• Fuuniest News of the Election Season (Riley Dad's Weblog) In 1988, the Democratic and Republican Parties missed a similar Indiana deadline. Lenora Fulani sued the State Election Board to force the Board to enforce the deadline.... This year, the Texas Libertarian Party and Bob Barr are the only ballot-listed presidential candidates on the Texas ballot, so the Texas Libertarian Party could, if it wished, bring a lawsuit. However, the result of the lawsuit would probably be to get the deadline declared unconstitutional; no court would order that Obama and McCain be kept off the ballot.

CAMPAIGN
Golisano Goes National, Backs Obama (NY Daily News/Daily Politics)