TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 9/3/10

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Close primary election loophole - Lawmakers should let Floridians close the loophole that closes primaries. (Orlando Sentinel)
• Sign the open primaries pledge at Florida Sunshine Independents

GOV RACES

• Candidate Cahill promises reforms (By JIM KINNEY, The Republican on Mass Live.com) State Treasurer and independent candidate for governor Timothy P. Cahill promised Wednesday morning to apply reforms from the Massachusetts School Building Authority to transportation projects.
• Gov. Deval Patrick, Glenn Beck, and the First Amendment (The State Column) Mr. Patrick is facing his first re-election fight. Mr. Cahill is running against the incumbent governor, along with Republican Charles Baker. Recent polls show a tight race between Mr. Patrick and Mr. Baker.
• Maine Gubernatorial Candidates Spar Over Education Reforms (By: A.J. Higgins, Maine Public Broadcasting Network) [Independent gov candidate Eliot] Cutler says the dual system has created silos that preserve the status quo at a time when collaboration could benefit students and decrease costs. "These silos may benefit certain programs or certain professors, but they're not benefiting the kids," he says. "And you have kids that are caught between the community colleges and the universities, you have one university changing its curriculum in a way that another university in the same system doesn't realize it's doing. We're not using our resources well to the benefit of the kids who we're trying to educate. It's just an enormous set of mistakes."
• Louisiana GOP, Obama Making Democrats See Red (by Jeff Crouere, Bayou Buzz) All of these trends are leading toward a very uncomfortable electoral season for the Democratic Party in Louisiana. While the party still retains the loyalty of African American voters, white voters are leaving the Democrats in huge numbers.... In a conservative state like Louisiana, the challenge for Democrats is even greater. On Saturday, in the Senate primaries, more people voted for David Vitter than Charlie Melancon, even though Democrats allowed Independents to vote in their primary and approximately 75 percent of voters were eligible to participate.
•  NOTE: Crouere is an explicit opponent of what he has called the "socialist agenda" of Barack Obama...
• Independence Party Ticket will be Allen-Zanni (KEVIN DERBY'S BLOG, Sunshine State News)
• Kendrick Who? Crist camp says its poll points to a Crist-Rubio Senate race (by George Bennett, Palm Beach Post)

NEW YORK

• NYC mayor: No reason to probe mosque's finances (By The Associated Press, First Amendment Center) U.S. Rep. Peter King, a Republican who’s the ranking minority leader of the Homeland Security Committee, said on Aug. 31 that he disagreed with the mayor. He said the question of financing was fundamental to assessing the Islamic center project’s backers.
• Critics Root for Espada’s Exit, but He’s Dug In (By SAM DOLNICK, NY Times) He vowed to defeat his opponents, whom, over the course of an interviews, he dismissed as “outsiders,” “bullies” “limousine liberals” and more. “They’re ganging up on me,” he said. “They’re an invading army coming in and leasing someone in the community to do their bidding, and the people of this district see it for what it is.”

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• After All These Years: Another Term Limits Column (By MICHAEL SCHENKLER, Queens Tribune) I’m with Henry and wer’re both with the people.

LAST WORD

• How Barack Obama Became Mr. Unpopular (By MICHAEL SCHERER, Time Magazine)

California Proposition 14 Open Primary Ballot Wording Legal Decision Favorable to Independents

More commentary on California's Proposition 14 "top two" open primary referendum after Judge Allen Sumner's ballot language ruling on Friday. The ruling was seen as a win for independent voters by attorney Harry Kresky of IndependentVoting and by Californians for an Open Primary/Yes on 14... Meanwhile, state Rep. Hunter Greene, a Republican who chairs the state House Ways and Means Committee, wants an open primary for Louisiana.... Plus some more state political news below, including NYS Independence Party boss picks Schumer for Gov...

PROPOSITION 14

• Editorial: Bay Area News Group urges a yes vote on Proposition 14 (Oakland Tribune Medianews editorial)
• California GOP ends conference bullish, but shadowed by past defeats (By Jack Chang, Sac Bee)
• 'Ayatollah' Willie Brown wants a more moderate Legislature (George Skelton, LA Times/Capitol Journal)
• Judge orders new wording in summary of Prop. 14 (By Dan Smith, Sac Bee)
• Both candidates veer right in Calif. GOP gov. race (By JULIET WILLIAMS Associated Press Writer, Mercury News)
• How students can turn anger into Capitol action (John Diaz, SF Chronicle) Sucinct description of language fight
• Electoral reforms won't fix California gridlock (Eric McGhee, San Francisco Chronicle)
• Both Sides Are Unhappy with Wording Changes to California’s Proposition 14 (Ballot Access News) references Judge orders ballot changes for open primary measure (Dan Smith, Sac Bee/Capitol Alerts)
• Legal Fight over Ballot Wording For Proposition 14 (Carnival of Politics)

LOUISIANA OPEN PRIMARY

• Greene says return to open primaries (The Advocate/Inside Politics)

GOVERNORS RACES

• Cahill navigating uncharted waters-No independent has won statewide race (By Brian C. Mooney, Boston Globe) Cahill often invokes voter registration statistics to buttress his rationale for an independent candidacy. Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 3 to 1, but so-called unenrolled voters now constitute 51 percent of the electorate.

NEW YORK

• Smith: Is Jose Peralta Really All That Much Better Than Hiram Monserrate? (NY Mag/Daily Intelligencer)
• Independence Party endorses Schumer for Senate (Dunkirk NY Observer)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 9/9/09

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Read this article for a good straight-forward anti-socialist perspective on the health care debate. The conversation centers around whether we want a country with a spirit of collective work and collective good, or an "every man for himself" culture. What do you think?

• The Limits of Self-Hate (By Lisa Fabrizio, American Spectator) Because, at its heart, the true goal of "progressives" is the repudiation of all that this country was founded on; particularly the right of its people to govern themselves in a way that counts the protections of private property and personal freedom as sacrosanct, and is codified under the tenets of natural law as defined by the Judeo-Christian ethic.

OPEN PRIMARIES

California Repubs don't want "decline to state" voters...

• State GOP about to shoot itself in the foot — again (By thomas d. elias, Mercury News) State Sen. Abel Maldonado, possibly the party's leading moderate, calls the exclusionary plan "just crazy "... I've never, ever seen a business "... run by eliminating 25 percent of the market share. Anyone would walk away from that deal."

GOVERNORS RACES

Timothy Cahill will announce today for independent run for Gov in MA; Independent Chris Daggett on a roll in NJ...

• Cahill Candidacy Likely to Roil Mass. Governor Race (By Emily Cadei, CQ Politics) The Boston Globe is reporting that Massachusetts state Treasurer Timothy Cahill will announce an independent run for governor on Wednesday, shaking up an already charged 2010 governor's race.
• Cahill to announce candidacy for governor (By Andrea Estes, Boston Globe)
• Cahill set to launch run for governor- But state treasurer who left Democratic Party faces hurdles as an independent (By Andrea Estes, Boston Globe)
• N.J. candidate Daggett goes for humor in TV ad (By Cynthia Burton, Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Indie Candidate Daggett Lampoons Rivals In TV Ad (RealClearPolitics) with VIDEO

WORKING FAMILIES PARTY

WFP has somewhat of a base in Queens and the Dem party insiders are going after them...

• Public advocate candidates get nasty in TV debate (BY ERIN EINHORN AND CELESTE KATZ, DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU) Queens City Councilman Eric Gioia started the digs early, using his opening statement to go after former public advocate Mark Green and Brooklyn Councilman Bill de Blasio as "insiders" who "sure know how to play the same old political games." He slammed de Blasio for his ties to the pro-labor Working Families Party and its for-profit political consulting arm, which Gioia called an "election funding scam."
• Minor parties push into primaries (Crains New York)