TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Colin Powell, the Undecided Voter, and the Coin Flip (Beliefnet.com) We're people who feel unrepresented by either party, because our combination of political commitments and our wish-list for changes in government don't match up with the platforms on offer.

OREGON MEASURE 65

• Rick Dancer: Republican (The Register-Guard) supporting measure 65, which would allow independent voters to participate in state primaries
• Open primaries: Two views on Measure 65 (The Oregonian)

CAMPAIGN

• Big turnout for early voting (Steamboat Pilot & Today) Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a news release. “Those margins may be insurmountable barring a reversal that has never been seen before in the modern era in which polling monitors public opinion throughout the campaign. … The key to winning elections in Colorado is independent voters, and Sen. Obama has blown open the race there with his 11-point lead among them.”
• Obama opens 8-point lead over McCain (Reuters) Obama's advantage with independent voters grew from 11 to 15 points, and his edge with women voters grew from 8 to 13 points.
• Borger: A divided GOP hurts McCain (By Gloria Borger, CNN Senior Political Analyst) That's the key indictment, and the key problem, for the GOP. While the political world shifts towards independent voters -- who, by nature, are more about pragmatism than dogma -- the Republican Party remains unable to redefine itself back into a working majority.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Voter registration soars (Lawerence Journal World News) Democrats now make up the largest voting bloc at 27,357 people, compared with 27,283 independent voters and 23,951 Republicans. The rest are either Libertarian or Reform party voters.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Milkovich alleges voter irregularities (Shreveport Times) Conservative Democrat John Milkovich, who Saturday finished a close third in a four-way bid for that party's entry in the coming general election for the 4th Congressional District seat, claims independent voters who wanted to cast ballots for him were refused.
• Brown is best candidate for secretary of state-The veteran senator can offer bipartisan leadership (Statesman Journal) The Secretary of State's Office has suffered a severe case of partisanship under Democrat Bill Bradbury. Any of the three candidates would be an improvement from that perspective. Rick Dancer goes so far as to call for making the position nonpartisan. He also is a supporter of the proposal for open primaries, Measure 65.
• Open primary? Yes. The rest? Forget it (The Forest Grove News-Times)
• Have you heard? 3 are vying for Oregon's top elections job (The Oregonian) Rick Dancer on Measure 65: "It rubs me the wrong way as a journalist that 25 percent of our people are registered to vote, but they can't vote in the primary," he says.

CAMPAIGN

• Obama’s Victory Road? - Debate Over, Now on to Florida's I-4 Corridor. (The Washington Independent) That’s because the I-4 corridor may be the most important political real estate in the nation. Running through Tampa, Lakeland, Daytona Beach and Orlando, the corridor holds the key to the biggest chunk of independent voters in the biggest of all battleground states.
• Obama picks up second debate win, poll says (CNN) Fifty-four percent of those identifying themselves as independents said the Illinois senator performed best, with 28 percent saying that McCain did the better job.
• Why McCain Blinked (by Joe Conason, NY Observer) Senator McCain knew he was addressing independent voters, so he restrained himself from plunging straight into the gutter
• War bad idea, even when it’s Obama’s (Cumberland Sentinel) Unfortunately, the idea of fighting wars to serve various undescribed “strategic interests” looms large in the political discourse, both among elected officials and the foreign policy think tanks they rely upon for advice.

NEW YORK POLITICS--The Mayor and Term Limits

• Friends of Mayor Bloomberg make contributions to a third party (NY Daily News/Daily Politics)
• Mayor Bloomberg's term bill unleashes unlimited City Council debate (BY FRANK LOMBARDI, DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU)
• Council Speaker undecided on plan to extend term limits (Newsday)
• Quinn’s Silence on Term Limits May Reflect Conflict of Ambition and Past Stand (NY Times)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

MEASURE 65
Secretary Of State Race: Dancer is Alone in Supporting Open Primary (Willamette Week) Democrat Kate Brown, Republican Rick Dancer and Seth Woolley of the Pacific Green Party are battling to replace term-limited incumbent Bill Bradbury.

CAMPAIGN

• Democrats Lead Republicans In Adding Voters (The Tampa Tribune) Those numbers show 287,770 new Democratic voter registrations since January, after purging the names of previous voters who died, moved away or became otherwise ineligible to vote. That compares with net gains of 112,290 for Republicans and 89,859 independent voters, they say.
• Sioux City Journal poll: Obama takes big lead in Iowa (Sioux City Journal-Lee Enterprises) Of the independents polled, 55 percent support Obama and 37 percent support McCain.
• McCain Holds Slight Lead In Latest NH Poll (WMUR) McCain has taken the lead among independent voters, with 41 percent of independents saying they support McCain, compared to 35 percent supporting Obama.
• Which convention drew independents? (Hot Air)
• Obama leads McCain; Senate race tied - The poll had the Democrat leading John McCain 52-44, while Norm Coleman had a 48-47 edge on Al Franken in the Senate race. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• The Party's Over - Millions of voters have moved out of the political party system. The decline of loyalty has made politics less stable and predictable -- and has resulted in close elections. (Wall Street Journal)
• What to Do After the Elections? (An Ordinary Person) Great recommendations!

CAMPAIGN

• Candidates look anew to N.H. and Iowa (Boston Globe) Antiwar sentiment also runs high, notably among the independent voters, who were McCain's base eight years ago but now have expressed misgivings about his vocal support for the war in Iraq.
• Obama establishes double-digit lead in Iowa poll (Chicago Tribune)
• Independents swing toward McCain (John P. Avlon, Politico) Obama’s campaign is confronting a political reality that Democrats have a difficult time dealing with: that America is essentially a center-right nation. Winning a national election comes down to winning over independents and centrists in swing states.
• Panic sets in for Obama, Democrats (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Obama makes case for change (Nashua Telegraph) "McCain has grown his strength among Republicans and that's good, but we see Obama winning independents in the range of 50 (percent) to 35 percent. If Obama can hold on to that kind of edge here, it's ballgame.''
• Is the black vote already decided? (Newport News VA Daily Press)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• It's former anchor vs Senate veteran in Ore. race (KTVZ) Rick Dancer knows it could be another dismal year for Republicans in a state that's been trending more blue in recent years. But he said he's not running as a traditional Republican. He supports the concept of opening up primary elections so that independent voters, currently not allowed to vote in Oregon's Republican and Democratic primary elections, would have a say in picking candidates.
• On Politics: State Sen. Rosalind Kurita was robbed (Nashville City Paper) Tennessee Democrats now appear to care more about politics and holding power than they do actual democracy.
• Tennessee Democrats Invalidate State Senate Primary Because Republicans Participated in that Primary (Ballot Access News)

LOCAL INDEPENDENT NEWS

• Minnesota Poll: Coleman, Franken slip amid sniping (Minneapolis Star Tribune) The beneficiary of the crossfire is Barkley, the Independence Party nominee who registers a robust support level of 13 percent among the 1,106 likely voters polled.
• ‘Outsiders’ Guide to Alaska’s Politics and Peculiarities (Flathead Beacon MT - from Christian Science Monitor)

LAST WORD TODAY
Our secessionist streak - The desire to break away from the U.S. is surprisingly widespread, and could be seen as pro-American (Baltimore Sun)