Anna Sale: Finding Nonpartisans in a Partisan World

Anna Sale has a big job -- finding out what nonpartisans, in a partisan world, think. And she's not doing too bad!

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
The Changing Face of America's Independent Voters (AUDIO The Takeaway) Anna Sale on the radio talks about independents and race

Conversations on Community Organizers

Thanks to my friend James Protzman at NCBlue.org, The Hankster is recommending a peek at Traction.org. What’s Traction? A social network of left-leaning 20- and 30-somethings who are spicing up progressive activism. Traction was begun in January 2006 in North Carolina. Issue-oriented and fun-oriented, they are organizing themselves by going door to door, holding fundraisers and other events, and they're reaching out to other like-minded constituencies nationally.

Check out this video on Traction by (Democratic Party oriented?) The Oregon Bus Project. "We drive votes, drive leaders, and drive change. (And yes, we have a bus.) Founded in 2001, the Bus Project has mobilized thousands of volunteers and activists around the state of Oregon and throughout the country. We bring voters out of the woodwork. We host zany forums to learn about candidates and policy issues. The affiliated BusPAC works to elect the best progressive candidates in the Oregon swing districts."

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
G.O.P. Drops in Voting Rolls in Many States (New York Times) Over the same period, the share of the electorate that registers as independent has grown at a faster rate than Republicans or Democrats in 12 states. The rise has been so significant that in states like Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina, nonpartisan voters essentially constitute a third party. [21 states have nonpartisan voter registration]

CAMPAIGN

• The God Vote (Jacques Berlinerblau, Washington Post) McCain "The One" attack ad targets independents
• Obama stumbles, McCain surges in poll (The Charlotte Post - The Voice of the Black Community)
• The Decline of John McCain (The New Republic/The Plank)

SWING VOTE
Swing Vote: What It Tells Us About the '08 Race, and Why Obama Needs to Put Kevin Costner on His iPod (Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post) Anianna was in it and she likes it....

Hankster Top Cities

Ok, we're down to the hard core! Obama clinches the Dem primary. McCain is pretty much a dud, neither fish nor fowl. No independent stepping forward. What next?

Political reform.

If the American people don't have a voice, nothing will change in this country.

Personally, I don't see how Obama doesn't win the general election. Too much on the plus side. Committment to getting out of Iraq. Interest in "reaching across the aisle" -- even an interest in reaching OUTSIDE the aisle... And what a great statement by the American people (as my friend Sameh Abdelaziz noted today on his OpEdNews piece ) to side up with the progressive, anti-war, anti-machine, African American candidate!!

We independents would do well to be mindful right now about the desire of the Democrats to take this people-based movement into their partisan orbit. Hopefully we have learned something over the past umpteen years about that.

As Jackie Salit, President of the Committee for an Independent Movement, put it recently: "This is an exciting time and a challenging time for independent voters and for the independent movement. Independents are now 40% of the electorate. Polls show that 41% of college students consider themselves indies as do 35% of African Americans under the age of 30. Independents have been participating in the presidential primary process in record numbers and have played an integral role in shaping the presidential season...."

We'll see -- in the meantime, keep on keepin' on!

--NH

#1 Washington DC
#2 Sacramento CA
#3 New York NY
#4 Atlanta GA

#5 Greenfield WI
#6 Letona AR
#7 Allentown PA

On Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries and caucuses, here's where independents are (and are not) allowed to vote

Other rules and customs may apply. For example, in California "decline to state" voters may vote in the Dem primary but not the Repub primary, and they must ASK for a Dem ballot or else they will receive a nonpartisan ballot without the candidates names.

OPEN means independents can vote; CLOSED means only party registrants can vote.

Alabama - Primary Open
Alaska - Caucus Open - Dem/Closed - Repub
Arizona - Primary Closed
Arkansas - Primary Open
California - Primary Open - Dem/Closed - Repub
Colorado - Caucus Closed
Connecticut - Primary Closed (about 1% of independents have changed registration to be able to vote)
District of Columbia - Caucus Closed
Delaware - Primary Closed
Georgia - Primary Open
Idaho - Caucus Open
Illinois - Primary Open
Kansas - Caucus Open
Massachusetts - Primary Open
Minnesota - Caucus Open
Missouri - Primary Open
Montana - Repub - Primary Open
N. Dakota - Caucus Open
New Jersey - Primary Open
New Mexico - Dem Primary Closed
New York - Primary Closed
Oklahoma - Primary Closed
Tennessee - Primary Open
Utah - Primary Open

see independentvoting.org for more information....

California: The Decline to State

Nonpartisan rule a dilemma for GOP, by LISA VORDERBRUEGGEN ( Contra Costa Times)
...Back in 1970 when 95 percent of California voters were registered as Republicans or Democrats, no one cared what nonpartisan voters did.
Today, the percentage of voters who identify with either party has dropped to 76 percent, with decline to state voters making up nearly 19 percent of the electorate. In some counties, such as Alameda and San Francisco, nonpartisan voters outnumber Republicans....