Today is primary day and 3.5 million Flori

Monday, March 30, 2009

Independent voters: We elected Obama, but we did not become Democrats



I just attended a screening of Jackie Salit's soon-to-be-released dvd of her annotated talk at CUIP's celebrated bi-annual January Conference where I was also on the behind-the-scenes panel just after the screening, the whole thing organized by producer Sarah Lyons. Please check out the trailer here, and watch for the launch of the dvd and online version soon!!
-NH

Jackie Salit: How the Independent Movement Went Left by Going Right


How the Independent Movement Went Left by Going Right

   

As commentator John McLaughlin remarked, "It's the independents who are controlling the action.  You can't understand what happened on Election Day if you just look at the [two] parties.  You've got to look at what happened with independents."  

    Now, Neo-Independent magazine editor and IndependentVoting.org founder Jacqueline Salit presents that history.
 
     HOW THE INDEPENDENT MOVEMENT WENT LEFT BY GOING RIGHT goes behind the headlines to consider the strategic alliances, innovative tactics and on-the-ground organizing that positioned the independent movement as a mainstream force for political development.
 
     Salit offers key insights into the changing character of the American political process - examining efforts to integrate the Perot movement, the significance of open primaries, and the vital connection between small, qualitative developments and sweeping social change.
 
     HOW THE INDEPENDENT MOVEMENT WENT LEFT BY GOING RIGHT is an important, untold story about how we, the America people, built a movement that challenges the culture of partisanship.

 

Reviews

 
"A comprehensive overview of the impact of the independent movement on the Obama election."
 
- Douglas Schoen 
 Political Strategist 
 

Info
 

Watch the Preview
 
DVD disc face
Jacqueline Salit paints a vivid picture of a fluid but pivotal movement that broke into the mainstream in 1992 in the explosive center-right campaign of Ross Perot. In her dual role of political player and analyst, she documents its evolution over the next 16 years into a center-left, multi-racial movement that changed the rules of engagement in 2008. 
 

Sunday, March 29, 2009

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

彭博三連任獲獨立黨背書

彭博三連任獲獨立黨背書
紐約時報紐約27日電
March 28, 2009 12:00 AM | 38 觀看次數 | 0 0 comments | 0 0 recommendations |  電郵給朋友 | 打印
紐約市獨立黨已捐棄前嫌,支持彭博市長競選三連任,讓他的名字列在該黨的選票欄上。

兩大創黨成員26日受訪時說,他們將支持彭博,使他成為該黨的市長候選人,預計黨內成員將會投票贊成。

獨立黨領袖紐曼(Fred Newman)說:「我認為他已勝算在握,他連任是合理的。」

彭博獲提名,可說是峰迴路轉,他去年曾觸怒獨立黨成員,以致他們揚言不會把他的名字列在該黨的選票欄上,作為報復。(read more)

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

where in the world are we?

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS


Talk Talk: Bonus, Bubbles and Bangs


Sunday, March 22, 2009
 
Every weekend CUIP's president Jacqueline Salit and strategist and philosopher Fred Newman watch the political talk shows and discuss them. Here are excerpts from Bonus, Bubbles and Bangs, their dialogues compiled on Sunday, March 22, 2009 after watching selections from "Hardball with Chris Matthews," two Charlie Rose interviews and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

Newman: But the truly esoteric, cutting edge stuff, in my opinion - and I might just not know what's going on in every field - is in cosmology.
 
Salit: And what are the questions that those scientists are asking?
 
Newman: The questions that we asked as children, basically. How did the universe begin? How did it all get started? How do you go from nothing to something?
 
Salit: From non-existence to existence.
 
Read Talk Talk in its entirety here.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

  • To Win Virginia, Parties Must Court Independents (FRANK B. ATKINSON, RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH) In eight months Virginians will choose a new governor. If history is a guide, the election will be decided by the almost one-third of voters who describe themselves as "independents."
  • Are Independents Hedging Their Bets? (by Charlie Cook, National Journal) The generic question's results are "evidence that voters, particularly independents, are worried that they overcorrected in the 2006/2008 elections combined, and now have more of a liberal slant to government than they want. They want change but with checks and balances."
  • Kentucky Legislature Adjourns Without Passing Election Law Bills (Ballot Access News) including HB 17, which would have let independent voters vote in party primaries (with no provision for the party to indicate a preference on that matter)

Friday, March 20, 2009

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

First Amendment isn't just for the homos!


Hell, no!

I posted an article and a photo today which was taken during a protest over Mayor Bloomberg's public demolition of term limits at City Hall by James Wagner on behalf of the Radical Homosexual Agenda. Thanks for the h/t -- and -- more power to ya/all of us!!!

If you haven't yet checked out this site yet, please DO!

NH

choice?

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS


INDEPENDENT VOTERS
  • Specter won’t rule out run as an Independent (By Aaron Blake, The Hill) The decision would be harder for Specter, too, because Pennsylvania state law does not allow someone who has lost a primary to run as an Independent, as Lieberman did. Specter would need to decide to run without a party in advance of the primaries.
  • Specter Wants An Open Primary (Steve Rankin, Free Citizen)
  • If a voter wants to switch (News Observer - NC) "We've become pretty liberal in allowing unaffiliated voters to vote in either primary already," he said. "Why shouldn't the rest of us get to?"l

NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION
The Centrist President (Ben Domenech, the New Ledger) His White House has already become an engine of Rahm Emanuel-approved partisan political attacks, fueling targeted media campaigns against Rush Limbaugh, Jim Cramer, Rick Santelli and others. 

NEW YORK POLITICS
  • Bloomberg's third-term-rigging: Not so fast, folks.... (Newsday/Spin Cycle)
  • Democrats gain first-ever enrollment edge upstate (By Robert J. McCarthy, Buffalo News) Unaffiliated gains more
  • Extension of Term Limits Clears a Key Legal Hurdle (By FERNANDA SANTOS, NY Times) “We are obviously disappointed,” said Randy M. Mastro, the lawyer who represented the opponents, including Councilwoman Letitia James of Brooklyn and some minority Council candidates. “But our fight continues.”

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

happy st patrick's day

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

OBAMA'S STRUGGLE TO BE INDEPENDENT

OPEN PRIMARIES

  • State Party Must Focus on Ending “Two-Thirds Rule” (by Paul Hogarth‚ Beyond Chron) But I didn’t join the Democratic Party just to turn more seats “blue.” At the end of the day, I want to see a working progressive majority in California that can implement laws and pass budgets that are compassionate. An “open primary” would certainly make it harder to expand a Democratic majority – but what good is a majority when the “two-thirds rule” gives the minority of right-wing Republicans free reign to hold up the state budget? 
  • California and the Open Primary - Third Time a Charm? (Senator George Runner, Best Syndication News) Given that the U.S. Supreme Court has already overturned one attempt by California to establish a blanket primary, the question has been raised: What makes SCA 4 different enough that it will not also be overturned?
  • A new agenda to fix Massachusetts politics (By Rick Holmes, The MetroWest Daily News) The Open Primary initiative was put on California's ballot because a single state rep demanded it in return for his vote settling that state's budget impasse. Party officials - Republican, Democrat and third parties - hate it. But it has strong backing from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who knows as much as anyone about using referendum campaigns to leverage government reform. That's how real reform could happen in Massachusetts as well. 

 

 

Sunday, March 15, 2009

happy 130th, al

March 14 was Albert Einstein*'s birthday. He's 130 years old today!

*Albert Einstein, the first child of Hermann and Pauline Einstein, was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Germany. I learned of this on Twitter.......... (seems appropriate!)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer: Where's the Independence???

I guess I can't resist.... Jon Stewart's interview of Jim Cramer --the full episode...

I thought Cramer was incredibly non-defensive, meaning he accepted Jon Stewart's challenges gracefully and thoughtfully. Believe me, nobody in 21st century America thinks the media -- whether it's CNBC or the Comedy Channel -- is speaking for the people! Ha Ha! Only the people speak for the people. We get to do that on Election Day, and then everything goes back to clever reparte on cable tv.... 

I watch Jon Stewart as often as I can and really enjoy the show. But is Jon Stewart a watchdog of democracy? Hardly. If he was, he'd have some independents on, and I haven't really seen that yet. I view Stewart, as attractive as he is, as partisan as the 2 parties when it comes to political views--namely duopolistic. Of course there's always another tomorrow night at 11pm.... Jon, get with it!! There's more going on than 2 sides to every issue!!! Where's your independence, man?

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

the wire

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

to grandmother's house we go...

Talk Talk: Fuzzballs and Foreign Policy

Sunday, March 8, 2009
Every weekend CUIP's president Jacqueline Salit and strategist and philosopher Fred Newman watch the political talk shows and discuss them. Here are excerpts from their dialogues compiled on Sunday, Fuzzballs and Foreign Policy, March 8, 2009 after watching selections from "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," "Hardball with Chris Matthews," and a Charlie Rose interview.

Newman: That's who Limbaugh is laying down the gauntlet to. Limbaugh's message is We got creamed. And I'm saying we got creamed because we wouldn't go all the way with conservatism. And we can't take them on - the Democrats, the liberals, whomever - unless we are willing to go much further with that. And he might be right. I'm not supporting that. I'm not a Republican. But, he might be right.
 
Salit: He might be right that you can't compete with the Democrats by trying to play at the middle?
 
Newman: Yes. Limbaugh's advice is Don't go back to New England-style moderate Republicanism. That's exactly the wrong direction. We have to go the other way. Who was it who said today - and they're right - that Limbaugh doesn't represent the Republican Party?
 
Salit: Larry O'Donnell said it on Hardball.
 
Newman: Right. Limbaugh represents conservatism. And a conservative regime, which lasted eight years, did disastrous things to the country. Limbaugh's point is that conservatives have to go even more firmly to the right, and likewise for the Republicans, to be major players. Going to the center is futile, in his view. I think that's what he's doing and that's a fun fight to watch.
 
Salit: I liked when he called himself a "fuzzball."

 
Read Talk Talk in its entirety here.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

the dancing lumumbas

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS: The National Dialogue

OPEN PRIMARIES
  • WA STATE: Kastama: Good reason to oppose bill featured in ad Sen. Kastama: The root of all evil (JIM KASTAMA; STATE SENATOR 25TH LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT PUYALLUP, The News Tribune)
  • Dr. Joe Harrop: Under the big top or just a side show? (Red Bluff Daily News CA) That is one reason some of those six heretical GOP profligates have proposed an open primary. That possible blessing is that a new party may arise, a party of open-minded individuals who are willing to work together to improve government and society without being slaves to ideology.

NEW YORK POLITICS/INDEPENDENCE PARTY
  • New York City Republican Party More Likely to Let Mayor Bloomberg Run in its Primary (Ballot Access News) His strong showing in Brooklyn makes it likely that he will also receive permission from at least two other borough committees.
  • 'Irish For Mike' (NY Daily News/Daily Politics) Lucadamo also spotted signs sponsored by the Rockaway Republicans that read: “Our candidates: Michael Bloomberg, Eric Ulrich (the councilman-elect who won the seat previously held by Democrat Joe Addabbo) and Jerry Sullivan (an Assembly candidate).”
  • New York Libertarian Expects to Qualify in Special US House Election (Ballot Access News) The Independence Party and the Working Families Party both cross-endorsed the Democratic nominee, and the Conservative Party cross-endorsed the Republican nominee.

LAST WORD
GALLAGHER: Not your mama's liberals (Maggie Gallagher, Washtingon Times) Republicans say: The stimulus package/new budget expansion is "pork"; it contains something called "earmarks," they tell the American people. It is "wasteful" government spending that drives up an abstraction called the "deficit." Barack Obama, we fear, is engaged in "class warfare," which is fundamentally "unfair" given that, as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg blurted out, 1 percent of the taxpayers pay 50 percent or more of the taxes.

Saturday, March 07, 2009

last monday morning

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS: The Fight for Open Primaries

KENTUCKY OPEN PRIMARIES BILL
  • Independents still out in the cold (By PAUL GLASSER, The State Journal - Frankfort KY) "I'm not an undecided voter," Ritter said. "The current political process is not meeting our needs." 
  • State should let independents vote in primary (LETTER TO Lexington Herald Leader) House Bill 17, a bill to allow unaffiliated voters to vote in the primary election, is a progressive step forward for Kentuckians.
  • Early voting and running mate bills pass first step (Bluegrass Politics) “More people will vote. This is good for democracy,” said Mark Ritter, a retired state worker and lieutenant colonel in the Kentucky National Guard who has been a registered independent since 1991.

WEST VIRGINIA OPEN PRIMARIES
EDITORIAL: The Results Are In: GOP Legislators Want Independents Included in Republican Primaries (HuntingtonNews.Net) Simply put, the West Virginia Republican Party needs every vote it can get from likeminded individuals, whether they are Independents in primaries or conservative Democrats in general elections. 

TENNESSEE OPEN PRIMARIES
Tennessee should stick with open primary voting (By Gail Kerr, The Tennessean) In Tennessee, voters are notoriously independent. We have a long history of electing moderate candidates who have traits voters in both parties find attractive... Voters here like that they can pick the person, not the party. And that's how it should stay.

CALIFORNIA OPEN PRIMARIES
Maldonado: Now Accepting Friends (Santa Cruz.com) “This is why we need an open primary,” Maldonado told reporter Kurtis Alexander, “so we can keep extremists like Mr. Keeley from coming to Sacramento.” But wait! Keeley now works for the reform group California Forward, which supports open primaries.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Herbert Hoffman, Maine independent, has some observations about partisanship and open primaries...

The talk shows were all a-twitter with the "s" word today... let's see how that shakes out. In the meantime, here's Rahm Emanuel on CBS Face the Nation as reported by Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun Times...