Relying on political parties is "sort of a crutch" to avoid dealing with the issues

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Partisanship Is Dead. Long Live Partisanship (by: Yana Kunichoff, t r u t h o u t | Report) Esteli Pacio-Manzano, a community organizer with the New York City Independence Party and independentvoting.org said that critics who attempt to argue for piecemeal reform do not realize the importance of a fully representative, nonpartisan democracy to the democratic process.
  "I think that you need political reform to be able to target everything," said Pacio-Manzano. "No one thing is going to be the solution."

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Fla. voter registration down 30,250 from 2008 (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Miami Herald)

MIDTERMS

• Poll: Only 2/3 of 2008 Obama Backers Plan to Vote Democrat (Posted by Bill Plante, CBS News) The biggest erosion of support is among independents; just 42 percent of Obama's 2008 independent voters say they'll support a Democrat this year. Twelve percent say they'll vote for a Republican, and 38 percent were still undecided.
• Newspapers back independent candidate for governor in Minnesota (By Sean J. Miller, The Hill)
• Need to get voters excited? Call Bill Clinton, not Obama. A Gallup poll suggests that both Democrats and independents are more likely to be enthusiastic about a campaign visit from former President Bill Clinton than from President Obama. (By Dave Cook, Christian Science Monitor)
• Race and Beyond: Blacks Could Preserve a Progressive Majority (By Sam Fulwood III, Center for American Progress)

TEA PARTIES

• Tea Parties, Independents and Conservative Reform (Ross Douthat, NY Times/Opinion)

MINOR PARTIES

• 82% of Voters Will See at least One Libertarian on their Ballots (Ballot Access News)

NEW YORK

• Stimulus OK with Schumer (By Keith Goldberg, Times Herald-Record) Schumer said he'd favor open primaries for independent voters in New York state.
• DECISION 2010: Debate for Governor (YNN Buffalo) VIDEO of entire debate
• Cuomo the Second Tea Party Candidate (Billy Wharton, Bronx County Independent Examiner) Overall, Barron’s agenda seemed a bit narrower than Hawkins’ did.  When asked about the plight of a small business owner Barron called for more funding for black-owned businesses instead of examining the larger issues of access credit.
• Espada, Farley’s corruption, dysfunction junction courtesy of Savage (by Rick Karlin, Albany Times Union/Capitol Confidential) This anti-Pedro Espada ad has, I’m told, created a bit of agita if not anger among some Senate Democratic leaders.