2012 Presidenial Horse Race in On

OBAMA

• Ready to Vote for Mitt Romney? (By ALEXANDER COCKBURN, CounterPunch/Diary) Why did Obama do it? Like all first-term presidents he thinks first and foremost about reelection in 2012, and the thinking in the White House is that the all-important independent voters, are eager for deficit reduction, however ruinous it may be for the economy... Anybody but Obama, even if it’s Mitt Romney!
• Poll Shows Negative View of Tea Party on the Rise (By KATE ZERNIKE, NY Times) Perhaps not surprisingly, Democrats were most likely to have an unfavorable view of the Tea Party. But a plurality of independents, too — 40 percent — viewed the Tea Party negatively, and said it had too much influence on the Republican Party.

Relying on political parties is "sort of a crutch" to avoid dealing with the issues

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Partisanship Is Dead. Long Live Partisanship (by: Yana Kunichoff, t r u t h o u t | Report) Esteli Pacio-Manzano, a community organizer with the New York City Independence Party and independentvoting.org said that critics who attempt to argue for piecemeal reform do not realize the importance of a fully representative, nonpartisan democracy to the democratic process.
  "I think that you need political reform to be able to target everything," said Pacio-Manzano. "No one thing is going to be the solution."

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Fla. voter registration down 30,250 from 2008 (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Miami Herald)

MIDTERMS

• Poll: Only 2/3 of 2008 Obama Backers Plan to Vote Democrat (Posted by Bill Plante, CBS News) The biggest erosion of support is among independents; just 42 percent of Obama's 2008 independent voters say they'll support a Democrat this year. Twelve percent say they'll vote for a Republican, and 38 percent were still undecided.
• Newspapers back independent candidate for governor in Minnesota (By Sean J. Miller, The Hill)
• Need to get voters excited? Call Bill Clinton, not Obama. A Gallup poll suggests that both Democrats and independents are more likely to be enthusiastic about a campaign visit from former President Bill Clinton than from President Obama. (By Dave Cook, Christian Science Monitor)
• Race and Beyond: Blacks Could Preserve a Progressive Majority (By Sam Fulwood III, Center for American Progress)

TEA PARTIES

• Tea Parties, Independents and Conservative Reform (Ross Douthat, NY Times/Opinion)

MINOR PARTIES

• 82% of Voters Will See at least One Libertarian on their Ballots (Ballot Access News)

NEW YORK

• Stimulus OK with Schumer (By Keith Goldberg, Times Herald-Record) Schumer said he'd favor open primaries for independent voters in New York state.
• DECISION 2010: Debate for Governor (YNN Buffalo) VIDEO of entire debate
• Cuomo the Second Tea Party Candidate (Billy Wharton, Bronx County Independent Examiner) Overall, Barron’s agenda seemed a bit narrower than Hawkins’ did.  When asked about the plight of a small business owner Barron called for more funding for black-owned businesses instead of examining the larger issues of access credit.
• Espada, Farley’s corruption, dysfunction junction courtesy of Savage (by Rick Karlin, Albany Times Union/Capitol Confidential) This anti-Pedro Espada ad has, I’m told, created a bit of agita if not anger among some Senate Democratic leaders.

Independents & Political Reform: What MoveOn.org and the Tea Parties Won't Tell You About America's Political Problems

How Independents Define Political Reform: What MoveOn.org and the Tea Parties Won't Tell You About America's Political Problems Please join IndependentVoting.org's President Jacqueline Salit on her next national conference call. Special Time: Tuesday, June 15th      at 8:30 pm EDT          (7:30 CT, 6:30 MT, 5:30 PT) To join this conference call, contact Nancy Ross or Gwen Mandell at 800-288-3201 For more information:  Nancy Ross and Gwen Mandell (212) 609-2800/800-288-3201        national@cuip.org  -  www.independentvoting.org