TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 9/2/10

NYC NONPARTISAN ELECTIONS

• The case of the missing data (Crain's New York) Fiala: “As sad as it is that the data was not provided to the research analyst, the report wouldn't have made a difference,” he says. “The majority of these commissioners did not want to take this up.”

TEA PARTY

• Is the tea party becoming the new Grand Old Party? (By LIZ SIDOTI (AP) Some Democrats privately worry that the party risks alienating important numbers of independent voters who already are trending toward the GOP, identifying with the tea party's disgust with what it calls out-of-control spending and the growth of government under President Barack Obama.

COLORADO

• 10th Circuit Upholds Colorado Ballot Access Restriction, Even Though the Legislature has Already Repealed That Restriction Effective in 2011 (Ballot Access News)

PENNSYLVANIA

• ACLU appeals ballot ruling on Pa. House candidate - Carl Stevenson, an Independent, was seeking to challenge Doug Reichley in the 134th District. (THE MORNING CALL) "Requiring petition circulators to be residents of the election district is a serious burden on independent and minor party candidates' ability to gather the signatures necessary to get on the ballot, and there is no good reason for the requirement," Walczak, who is representing Stevenson, said in a news release.

FLORIDA

• The Role of Independent Voters (by Andy Corty, Florida Trend) But today, this other group has grown to more than 22% of the electorate, which means that 2.5 million of Florida’s 11 million voters don’t affiliate with either major party. Those 2.5 million voters are disenfranchised from our closed primaries so don’t play a role in selecting major party candidates. With these moderate citizens on the sidelines, the major parties tend to gravitate left or right to appease their hard-core voters. - Quotes John Avlon
• Florida Governor's race shake-up (WINK News - CBS) Indy candidate Chiles drops out of gov race
• Alternative political parties hold some sway in Florida (By Scott Powers, ORLANDO SENTINEL) If they voted as a bloc, Florida's third-party members could have a decisive impact on close races throughout the state, including some in Central Florida.
• Dude, you're not getting my Bud Chiles vote (By John A. Tures, Associate Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College, Southern Political Report) Democrats think the Chiles move will help them.  The governor’s mansion is in Republican hands (Crist) and Chiles will no longer split the vote among those dissatisfied with the politics of Tallahassee.

NEW YORK

• Bloomy: Only 'total incapacitation' or death would end term early (Maggie Haberman, Politico)
• Bloomberg, Shermanesque (Ben Smith, Politico)

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• Speak Out On The NYC Charter! (BY CELESTE KATZ, NY Daily News/Daily politics)