Political parties should pay for primaries (LETTER Kansas City Star)
MAY DAY
- May Day rallies call for reform, voice frustration (Chris Michaud and Eric Johnson, Reuters) May Day events in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin were considerably smaller than in past years, as some of the hope for reform among Democrats that helped put Obama in the White House has faded.
- For workers in Havana, May Day highlights uncertainty (By Eve Bower, CNN)
OPEN PRIMARIES
- Independent Idaho in for poll surprise - Largest bloc must decide between GOP, Democrat (Betsy Z. Russell, The Spokesman-Review) In a state that’s never had party registration, you could be in for a surprise at the polls, where voters will be required to become party members – or they might not get to vote in anything but nonpartisan judges’ races. “Being an independent, you don’t like that too well,” said Mitch Campbell, a Twin Falls businessman who heads the American Independent Movement of Idaho… Gary Allen, attorney for a group of independent voters who are appealing the federal court decision, said, “It’s just another infringement, and another insult by a party system that is just tone-deaf to where so many people are.”
- California Democratic gathering offers chance to celebrate, and challenges too (By Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times) The party on Friday began discussing how to deal with Proposition 14, which ended partisan primaries and created a system in which the top two vote-getters in a primary compete in the general election, regardless of party affiliation.
- Feinstein issues call to arms to state Democrats (Carla Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle) Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in California by 2 million voters. But Burton cautioned against complacency. Districts will soon be redrawn, and changes in primary election rules - what Burton called "this stupid open primary system" - could impact the balance of power.
INDEPENDENT VOTERS
- State acknowledges possible motor-voter glitch in Montco (By Jeremy Roebuck, Philadelphia Inquirer) County election officials fear that multitude of choices - including selections such as "Independent Democrat" and "Independent Republican" - could lead voters to mistakenly believe they have signed up with one of the county's two major parties.
- Special election: What role will major parties play? (EDITORIAL Las Vegas Review Journal) The tactical question hanging over the whole process is: How will Democratic Secretary of State Ross Miller choose to accept candidates for the ballot? The law clearly states "no primary may be held." Some have suggested Mr. Miller could cut the political parties out of the process and allow any and all comers ballot access so long as they gather the appropriate number of signatures and pay the established fee. Under this scenario, the pundits suggest, a large number of Republican aspirants might split the party vote and allow a Democrat to win with a small plurality.
2012
- Obama trails Romney in NV, narrowly leads others (PRESS RELEASE Public Policy Polling) Though they are only a fifth of the electorate, essentially all of the president’s decline has come with independents, who approved 55-41 in January but disapprove almost 2:1 now (33-65), a 46-point tailspin. Accordingly, Obama has slid with them from -11 to -31 against Romney, from +23 to -17 against Mike Huckabee, and from +27 to -11 against Newt Gingrich. Even Sarah Palin leads the president by two with independents, which she has not in almost any other state. She trailed by 22 in January. Donald Trump leads by four, but was not tested previously.
- Obama's Numbers Holding Strong In NC (By Patrick Zarcone, Additional reporting by Freda Kahen, WCHL Chapel Hill NC) “He’s maintaining his support with white voters,” he said. “The other key thing is that those key independent voters are still with Obama.”
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