Today is primary day and 3.5 million Flori

Monday, January 25, 2010

Independents, Massachusetts and the Good Ol' Tea Party

Independent voters have the upper hand. But who are they and what do they want? The independent movement is a broad movement defined increasingly by its own activity at the grassroots to reform election laws to include the 40% of the electorate that doesn't consider itself aligned with either major party. These reforms include open primaries, fair ballot access for independent candidates and appointments of independents to entities such as the Federal Election Commission and local redistricting commissions. Below are the headlines from the past week since the election of Scott Brown as Senator from Massachusetts.


Also, I highly recommend the article by Patrick Coolican in the Las Vegas Sun about the subjective state of the new old time right wing Tea Party movement. 


INDEPENDENT VOTERS
  • Third party: Both parties have lost credibility (LETTER Florida Times Union - Jacksonville) Perhaps the emergence of such a party would break the seemingly intractable political gridlock that has served the nation poorly for far too long and give all Americans a reason to once again feel optimistic about the country's future
  • Independents are calling the electoral shots (Doyle McManus, LA Times) In any case, most independents -- contrary to claims from the "tea party" camp -- are looking for bipartisanship and centrism, not bloody-shirt populism.
  • Main Street's Message (by Salena Zito, Townhall) No party that tells Americans what to do, socially or financially, is safe from independents.
OPEN PRIMARIES
INDEPENDENTS AND MASSACHUSETTS

RHODE ISLAND
BARACK OBAMA
TEA PARTY

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