TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Swing voters give Obama flexibility to solve US economic crisis (Christian Science Monitor) The focus group results also give some insight into Obama’s wins in other red states such as Indiana, Colorado, Nevada, and North Carolina. Keeping the support of those swing voters will be crucial if Obama wants to govern effectively.
• Malcolm X, Obama, Powell, Rice and ‘House Negroes’ (Tri-State Defender) Malcolm X: “The organization of Afro-American Unity will organize the Afro-American community block by block to make the community aware of its power and potential; we will start immediately a voter-registration drive to make every unregistered voter in the Afro-American community an independent voter; we propose to support and/or organize political clubs, to run independent candidates for office, and to support any Afro-American already in office who answers to and is responsible to the Afro-American community…"
• State's independents gain a foothold (The Durham News) unaffiliated voters surpassed both parties in their rate of growth, increasing by about 220,000 -- or 18 percent. These gains were made primarily among voters ages 18-24, meaning an increasing number of voters -- especially young voters -- refuse to identify with any party at all.
• Time to target gerrymandering (LETTER Lebanon Daily News) Redistricting reform is not a partisan matter. Redistricting reform in Pennsylvania should be attractive to voters in both political parties as well as independent voters.
• Old Issue, New Twist (NY Daily News/Daily Politics) The New York County Lawyers' Association's Election Law Committee will hold a public forum next week on the question of open primaries, and the line-up - from Independence Party attorney Harry Kresky to Post City Hall Bureau Chief David Seifman (acting as the moderator - is sure to make for a lively discussion.
• Chris Matthews Senate Run? Report Says He's Staffing Up... UPDATE: Matthews Denies (The Huffington Post) yes he is, no he's not, yes he is, no he's not....
• Baseball's postseason needs to capture the 'independents' (USA TODAY) If we compare postseason television broadcasting to the recent election, television has the votes of fans whose teams are playing locked up, but it needs to capture the independent voters.

Conversations on Independence

Read Joe Gandleman's post Are Bloggers Merely Bullies With Computers on The Moderate Voice. It goes a long way toward the kind of discourse we need in politics.

And... I hafta say -- I LIKE Mirror on America. Maybe it's the rakish photo of WEB DuBois, or maybe the link to the Sports Illustrated article about Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron. Maybe it's that I miss canvassing for independent voters' signatures in a black sea of hot asphalt at this time of the season (petitioning)... Ahh, The Season: It's hot, it's July, I knock on an independent voter's door, I ask for a signature... They invite me in for a bottle of water... The Game is on.... I have to tear myself away to go to the next door!... Maybe it's something I learned from Fred Newman about life and baseball. Call me crazy, but I just hafta say --- I LIKE Barry Bonds.... and I like Hank Aaron too... Smart. Independent. Anyway, I have to take a shower... back to the blog: Check it out!