Today is primary day and 3.5 million Flori

Saturday, November 22, 2008

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

ELECTION REFORM
Reform Institute Applauds Historic Redistricting Reform Victory in California (The Reform Institute PRESS RELEASE)

ELECTION REFORM POLITICS
  • Dems seek to centralize elections (THE COLORADO STATESMAN) Some Republicans think it’s more than a coincidence that statehouse Democrats are preparing legislation for the upcoming session designed to take key electoral duties away from county clerks and put them under the control of the yet-to-be-named secretary of state.
  • Republicans look to pass election reform (The Vindicator - Youngstown OH) legislation was introduced in the Ohio Senate to prohibit same-day voter registration and absentee voting.

OBAMA BASE-BUILDING
Obama calls on his Internet campaign army to march again (Idaho Statesman) Campaign manager David Plouffe, in a mass e-mail sent Wednesday to former workers, asked how much time they can spare for four missions integral to Obama's effort to transform his victory into a broader political movement.

FROM THE LEFT
  • The Inappropriateness of Using a Left-Right Spectrum on Foreign Policy (Democracy Arsenal/NY) I think the last 8 years would indicate that hawks have made us weaker, while doves would have made us stronger.
  • techPresident's Daily Digest But as Politico's Ben Smith points out, that's really nothing new: "[I]f there was ever a campaign that took the complaints of liberal bloggers seriously, it was ... well, not Obama's." So where does that leave the netroots? With the right roots, likely, attempting to navigate this new political landscape.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd say the Libertarian roots are taking a stronger and stronger hold. They are certainly getting a lot of attention from independent and former independent voters that used to sit on the fence or only vote for Perot.

Unfortunately, as Ayn Rand warned about, I'm seeing more and more people using the word 'Libertarian' that are of child-brain mentalities; as opposed to having a moral foundation in capitalism and constitutionalism.

Nancy Hanks said...

jenovasreunion, thanks for your comment. I agree that Americans have strong libertarian roots. However, this is an anti-party movement that is growing, so as we know very few people actually vote for a third party right now. Also, I think there's a big difference between social libertarianism and free-market capitalism. Most Americans are social libertarians, but not free-market capitalists. Most Americans think that greed needs to be regulated.