2012 Presidential Election: Ron Paul, The Economy, Obama, and Two-Party Politics

2012

• Overshadowed by the Cainwreck and Newtmentum, Ron Paul Climbs into Second Place (By Alex Altman, Time/ Swampland) In a Public Policy Polling survey this week, the Texas Congressman leads President Obama 48% to 39% among independent voters — the only Republican hopeful to earn that distinction.
• The Economy Isn’t Obama’s Only Challenge (By MATT BAI, NY Times/ The Caucus) Simply put, Mr. Obama now has to run for president as a conventional Democratic nominee. And this, at least in the modern political era, isn’t an especially easy thing to do. Mr. Obama did not have to deal with this in 2008, when a bunch of mitigating factors came together to make him something more than his party’s choice for the presidency. The war in Iraq, the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the market, the erupting fury at Washington’s impotence, the way Mr. Obama himself seemed to embody generational change and a renewal of the American story — all of this made it possible for him to run, essentially, as an independent candidate who rarely talked in terms of party.
• Two-party presidential race faces challenge (By Richard McGregor in Washington, Financial Times) Michael Toner, a former head of the Federal Election Commission, said third-party candidates have traditionally struggled to get over electoral laws and ballot-access rules to allow them to run. “A third-party candidate likely would need to be a major self-funder to be potentially viable, someone capable of contributing $100m-$200m of their own money into their campaign,” he said. “In short, someone like Michael Bloomberg.”

Sunday Morning political-religious thought

I generally like to take a day of rest from politics and everything else, but I thought this was timely and applicable. If nobody minds I will do this from time to time and not just from my own religious philosophy. I have a copy of the Koran in English and if anybody has a thought for me to post from other philosophies or traditions, please let me know. I'd be happy to do so.

Matthew 5:17-18 KJV
"17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring for good fruit."

A two-party system doesn't yield very much good fruit so what can we infer about the character of a two-party system? Sure parties have the right of freedom of association, I'll vigorously defend that. However as readers here are intimately aware, the two-party system has taken upon itself to act as a publicly funded 'establishment' filter in the conduct of our elections. The bottom line is that arrangement is not yielding good fruit. By postulation, a two-party system as it exists now cannot ever yield good fruit.

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TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• It's the independents, stupid (Strange Bedfellows/Seattle Post Intelligencer)


• Young voters may shun old system (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online) What's the future of the two-party system?

CAMPAIGN

• For McCain, There's Only One Perfect Candidate for Veep (By Stuart Rothenberg, RealClearPolitics) [NOTE: Is this a liberal version of Bill O'Reilly calling for Repubs to vote for Obama so that Hillary wins??? Joe Lieberman has turned off more independents than you can shake a stick at!]


• Tuesday is deadline for voter registration, party switching (By kgw.com and AP)


• A swell of enthusiasm in North Carolina (Cary News) On the ground in North Carolina

POLLS

• Indiana Poll Data Analysis (Associated Content) Very very close


• Gallup Daily Tracking: Clinton Pulls Slightly Ahead Of Obama (The Moderate Voice) Rasmussen shows that both Republicans and unaffiliated voters are less likely to believe that Obama is a stronger general election candidate than Clinton.


• Rasmussen Reports


• Rasmussen: Obama Leads By 8 Nationally (Donklephant)


• Clinton, Obama gap closes; Perdue pulls away (ABC 11 Raleigh Durham) Unaffiliated voters shift slightly to Hillary in North Carolina

REFORM

• OHIO: Court ruling on voter ID not much of an issue in Ohio (The Vindicator) Supreme Court rules on Idaho voter ID


• OREGON: Independent Voters Now Officially Locked Out of May 20 Races; Open Primary Campaign Passes Half-way Mark (Earth Times Press Release)

NEW YORK
The Sean Bell Verdict and the American Dilemma (Lenora Fulani, The Daily Voice)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Hillary Has Company - Some Women Who Have Run For President Before (Transported) Lenora Fulani is perhaps the most successful female Presidential candidate so far.

County voter numbers rise (Pauls Valley Daily Democrat - OK) “Because registered Independents have been able to vote for either party in Iowa and New Hampshire, some Independents here have been asking why they can’t vote on Feb. 5”

Hits and misses (Trenton Times Editorial) MISS: The continued shut-out of the state's 2.7 million independent voters from the primary process in New Jersey.

Two-party system does more to damage democracy than to promote it (Letter to Canton Repository)

Obama Rocks Iowa, Clinton, Mccain Battle Back In New Hampshire (By Chris Levister, Black Voice News Online) While Clinton won handily among registered Democrats, Obama outstripped her by an even larger margin among Independents, but he suffered from a drop in turnout among young voters compared with Iowa.

D.L.C. Leaders Cut Edwards Out (By Ariel Alexovich, The Caucus New York Times) Senator Obama’s appeal that he’s made very firmly and directly to independent voters, and Senator Clinton’s appeal to the forgotten middle class are going to add up to a very smashing Democratic majority in the fall.” - Al From

Idaho: Republican Party Chairman Wants ID Primaries Closed (By Vanessa Brown, 2 News TV - Boise ID) * ID: Closed Primary Bill Introduced (Boise Weekly)

Pennsylvania: Voting rights: New Hampshire results show the importance of having open primaries (Beaver County Times & Allegheny Times online)

Minnesota: Reformers want politics out of political mapping-Current system serves interests of politicians, not voters, reformers say. (By MARK BRUNSWICK, Star Tribune)

The Bloomberg Primary: Unity08 Loses, Independence (Party) Wins (by Azi Paybarah, NY Observer The Politicker) "I don’t care if God comes out of the sky, we’re going with Bloomberg.” - Frank MacKay (Bloomberg backer)

National Network Prepared for Bloomberg-Though Mayor Bloomberg insists he's not running for president, "Draft Mike" activists across the US are collecting thousands of signatures to get Bloomberg on the ballot. (by Bob Hennelly, WNYC)

Wanna know what The Hankster thinks about some of the efforts behind Mike Bloomberg's potential presidential campaign? See "Bloomberg Inching/Voters Itching" in OpEdNews.... "The independent movement needs rich people and big names who will do what ordinary people want them to do, and not cave into grandstanders and hack third party opportunists." And while you're at it, check out Jackie Salit's The Bloomberg Story....

Independence Party of Minnesota delegates will meet Jan. 26 in Bloomington to vote on the proposed national affiliation to back Bloomberg for president.

Calls Grow for Bloomberg to Make Up His Mind (By DIANE CARDWELL and RAY RIVERA, NY Times) “Mike Bloomberg has failed to make a case that he represents an independent movement." - Robert Zimmerman (Clinton campaign advisor)

Kucinich is excluded from NBC debates - Take Action (by Heather Wokusch, OpEdNews)

Regardless of the context and "what they really meant", the Clintons (Bill and Hillary) have an attitude and Jim Clyburn for one doesn't like it (By Carl Hulse, NY Times)

More NEWS HEADLINES FOR INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Call It Independents' Day-Unaffiliated voters can take either party's ballot in New Hampshire (US News & World Report)
• Let's End This Two-Party System! (by Timothy V. Gatto-OpEdNews)
• Boston Herald lines up with Joe Lieberman's choice for Prez (Boston Herald) -- we'll find out who the real independents in New Hampshire support on Jan. 8
• Who'll be the maverick in 2008? Obama, Edwards Go Long (Wall Street Journal)
• McCain surging up on Romney, polls in New Hampshire show (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Clinton losing ground in California, but Obama isn't gaining (Mercury News)
• New Georgia poll: Obama, Clinton even; Huckabee far ahead (Savannah Morning News)
• Clinton Lands Seasoned Operative for S.C. Effort (The Fix Washington Post)
• James Pinkerton: The case for Michael Bloomberg--"satire" (Dallas Morning News)
• Mike Gravel Announces Third Party Bid; Why Ron Paul Will be Next (OpEdNews)

Conversations on Independence

Check out Transpartisan Times, now on The Hankster sidebar!

Tom Hayden has a message for Barack Obama: "What I cannot understand is your apparent attempt to sever, or at least distance yourself, from the Sixties generation, though we remain your single greatest supporting constituency. ..."

How to defeat the two political parties by ReasonableCitizen....

Time for a third political party on NavySeals.com....

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Protest 2-party dominance (Robert B. Winn, Maricopa, Ariz., LETTER to Concord Monitor)
• Politics of doubt gnaw at black voters in S.C.- Many feel whites won't back Obama (Boston Globe)
• Speculation bubbles over Bloomberg White House bid (ABC News)
• Nader appeals '04 Pa. judgment (PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW)
• Nader accuses law firm of hiding ties to Supreme Court justices (KDKA Pennsylvania Wire)
• Voters approve instant runoff voting (Aspen Times)
• Pierce County, Washington Voters Reject Anti-IRV Ballot Measures (Ballot Access News)
• Oklahoma Ballot Access Initiative Is in Jeopardy (Ballot Access News)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Peoples campaign forces Hillary into Harlem:

• CLINTON BOPS OBAMA IN UPTOWN UPSURGE (NY Post)
• Hillary Clinton finds time for her base in Harlem (Newsday)
• Hillary’s Harlem Hegemony? Harlem Residents Feel Steamrolled, Silenced (Think on These Things)

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Political project looks outside party lines-UNITY 08 (Lawrence Journal World and News)
• Independents unhappy with Republicans-Undeclared voters likely to lean Democratic (Concord Monitor)
• All but Gravel Shun Fla. Convention (The Caucus/NY Times blog)
• Lack of hopefuls doesn't stop party-Hundreds of activists skipped the Florida Democratic Party's annual convention in wake of a boycott by seven of eight presidential hopefuls over the state's early primary. Quotes Gravel (Miami Herald)
• Huge undecided bloc puts state up for grabs (Orlando Sentinel)

LOCAL INDEPENDENT POLITICS

• California: Steve Wiegand: Is latest remap try also DOA? (Sac Bee)
• Indiana: Candidates tackle 2-party system, Keystone project (Indianapolis Star)
• Idaho: Court Sets Hearing for Idaho Lawsuit Against Open Primary (Ballot Access News)

Hankster Hits the Streets

If you haven't noticed yet, The Hankster is on the street!

See video interviews on the YouTube collection at hankstertube of independent voters in New York City, featuring interviews with Sheryl in Brooklyn, Lynette and Scott in Queens, and Andrew in Manhattan, Lynette again from Queens, and Howard from Queens... more coming!

AND a video response by the brilliant blues collectionist hausenharry called 'the real politicians"... make it $50 (and call it a night)!....

Tired of the two-party system, don't agree with the party system? Don't like to be pidgeon-holed or cateorized? Think the presidential election system is a horserace? (or an auction?)

YOU'RE NOT ALONE!!!

Are you an independent? Send me your videos on the subject!

Yours independently,
The Hankster

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Gravel, Kucinich To Speak at Association of Independent Voters (New Hampshire Presidential Watch )
• No difference between the parties-vote independent (LETTER to Modesto Bee) NOTE: That's a dilemma for independents in a two-party system!
• Mrs. Clinton's ahead in New Hampshire, but Mr. Obama has loads of appeal to independent voters. (Dallas Morning News)
• Rodham Clinton Gains 10 Points in New Hampshire (Angus Reid Global Monitor )
• Biden: ‘I will win’ in S.C. (The State)
• Woman's Work-There are more female governors in office than ever before, and they are making their mark with a pragmatic, postpartisan approach to solving state problems. (Newsweek)
• Ron Paul would improve his odds by moving to New Hampshire (Concord Monitor)
• Is the Bloomberg off the vine? (New York Times)
• Independent Louisiana gov candidate John Georges: Confident neophyte takes on establishment-underscores business achievements, practical approach (Shreveport Times) NOTE: Personally, I'd like to see Georges reach out to independent voters... If you're going to run as an independent, let's see the independence!

US still needs its own ‘regime change’

by Ben Tanosborn in Turkish Daily News ...If Americans want change and they really mean it they must force it at the local and state level and forget about the people they've sent to the Capitol in D.C. It's the small towns and big cities that need to make declarations rebuking U.S. foreign policy and its byproduct: war, war and more war; rebuking jointly the president and the vice-president and calling for both their impeachments. Until there is such a groundswell of public opinion, and it becomes conclusive that we must stop beating around this Bush, there will be little hope for change and definitely no end to the involvement in Iraq....
Ben Tanosborn is a lawyer and political commentator based in Vancouver, WA, United States

If the US had a British-style system where allowances are made for a change in leadership of the country when citizens express a "no confidence" vote (and certainly, Pres. Bush has a big "no confidence" vote right now), we might be witnessing a regoranziation of our government. But we have a stable two-party bureaucracy in which calls for impeachment are rhetorical at best.

The groundswell of public opinion is already here, but we must be organized outside the two parties. Independents must speak out on behalf of the American people, and we need to organize at the grassroots. -NH

Party deadlock may produce independent presidential candidacy

When policy paralysis is bad politics, By Jacob Weisberg (Financial Times) ...It is an obvious point that leaving the country’s biggest problems to fester cannot be good policy. Less obvious is that it may not be good politics either. A two-party system is a zero-sum game, in which Republican gain ought to mean Democratic loss and vice versa. But because the politics of blockage, blame and stagnation tends to breed disgust with both sides, it can pave the way for big anti-incumbent swings and third-party movements. John McCain and Barack Obama both owe their popularity to a reputation for speaking more plainly than other politicians. But if the current logjam persists, Michael Bloomberg or someone else may wage an independent presidential candidacy on the case that neither Republicans nor Democrats are facing up to America’s challenges. ...