John Fund gets a D for his midterm paper. While he recognizes that independents are in revolt, he simply regurgitates Repub spin about independents' lack of support for Dems and draws a questionable conclusion: But independent voters are clearly swayed by arguments that the Obama administration and Democratic Congress are moving too far to the left too quickly. Mr. Fund needs to think harder about this and possibly get some help.
John Zogby gets a B+ on his paper for drawing attention to the fact that ""Moderates" and "Independents" are not the same thing". This is a very good start to correcting some of the misinformation that Mr. Zobgy has been spreading about who independents are.
And Wendy Kaminer gets an F for anti-independent thinking for her piece in The Atlantic today and for referencing Nancy Rosenblum's claim that "partisanship, not independence, is the morally distinctive political identity of representative democracy."
Overall, this is a mediocre class of journalists this year who don't seem to understand that independents have an agenda of political reform and just don't like parties. Period.
-NH
INDEPENDENT VOTERS
- Poll: Anti-incumbent sentiment surges (By KENDRA MARR, Politico) “Independents have taken a much more negative view of Congress than they did earlier this year,” said Doherty.
- Oregon voters increasingly none-of-the-above (By Jeff Mapes, The Oregonian) What's striking is that all of that loss - and a little bit more - has come from the two major parties, each of which had a drop of a little over 2 percentage points...
- Revolt of the Independents - The newest Gallup numbers show independents leaning to the GOP by 52% to 30%. (By JOHN FUND, Wall Street Journal)
- Gridlock and Indecision Spur Polling Shift from Obama to Republicans (By Peter Roff, US News & World Report/Thomas Jefferson Street blog)
- The big confusion: "Moderates" and "Independents" are not the same thing -- a Zogby poll (By: By John Zogby & Zeljka Buturovic, Detroit Lakes Online)
ATLANTA MAYORAL
- Barnes Backs Fellow Democrat for ATL Mayor (By Susanna Capelouto and John Sepulvado, Georgia Public Broadcasting) Party affiliation has become an issue during this non-partisan election runoff election, scheduled for December 1... “The party machine system is dead,” Barnes told GPB after the rally. “It’s been headed that way for a long time, and it’s not [a motivating factor for my endorsement].
COLORADO'S JOELLE RIDDLE
- Colorado Independent Candidate Will Sue to Overturn Ballot Access Law (Ballot Access News)
- Riddle takes on state election law (The Durango Telegraph/Quick and Dirty)
- Press Release Announcing Lawsuit (Joelle Riddle, Independent Commissioner blog)
MEDIA
- Independent Voting: Virtue or Vice? (The Atlantic, Wendy Kaminer)
- Anything but Partisanship: Anti-partyism, Bipartisanship, and the Luster of Independence (Nancy Rosenblum, Dissent Magazine)
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